From wars to natural disasters, humanitarian crises are increasingly numerous and extreme. More than ever, innovative digital technologies such as AI are becoming paramount to life-saving response and recovery efforts all around the globe.
In South Sudan, for example, war and economic turmoil have displaced 2.2 million people from their homes and left 7.7 million threatened by hunger, according to Human Rights Watch. The humanitarian aid group International Medical Corps is on the ground there — and it’s leveraging technology in order to help. With an app to track pharmaceutical supplies, it has lowered out-of-stock rates for medicines from 32% to just 3% while cutting wait times in its clinic from 85 minutes to 15 minutes.
With the right technologies, “services can become more efficient and of a higher quality,” said Dr. Yazeed Ayasrah, director of health systems applications at International Medical Corps. “The potential is limitless.”
The Promise of Technology in Humanitarian Aid
Nonprofits are looking to IT modernization to make their backend operations more efficient and cost-effective. Those same advances have the potential to make humanitarian aid far more effective.
Those in related fields already benefit: Digital transformation helps doctors deliver healthcare more effectively; enables environmental activists to fight climate change; and empowers conservation efforts.
How AI Predicts Crises Before They Escalate
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one tool that is perfectly poised to transform and enhance how humanitarian crises are handled. With the technology’s unique ability to ingest, analyze and generate insights on unfathomable quantities of data, AI can help governments and NGOs be proactive and anticipatory rather than reactive to the most dangerous global crises.
By feeding machine learning algorithms massive swaths of data, AI can better forecast natural disasters and map their potential resulting displacements. That means both preparation and emergency responses can be smarter, sharper and more efficient leading to life-saving interventions both before and after the storm. Resource allocation is critical and with AI’s predictive skills, these life or death situations can be better managed.
Saving Lives with AI
For example, in early 2025, Los Angeles experienced one of the most destructive fires in the city’s history. As the blaze grew, Cal Fire’s AI-powered cameras, sensors and modeling helped determine fire trajectories and formulate evacuation routes.
“With over 1,000 cameras, it could be difficult for humans to monitor it, but it provides great situational awareness,” said Marcus Hernandez, deputy chief at Cal Fire’s Office of Wildfire Technology Research and Development.
Drones were another vital source of data, providing real-time information for firefighters on the ground. As local hospitals became overwhelmed by a sudden influx of patients, AI was also deployed to help triage burn victims. Together, these technologies improved outcomes for everyone in the path of the flames.
Delivering Faster Aid with AI
By leaning into the technology’s extraordinary power to take complexity and distill it into actionable information, AI can also optimize and automate critical logistics, such as the delivery of aid to refugees. The result is more resilient and faster-running supply chains that can bring essential goods to where it’s needed most, impacting refugees' lives for the better.
“Harnessing shared intelligence is key to predictive, responsive and resilient supply networks,” said Margi Van Gogh, head of Supply Chain and Transport Industry at the World Economic Forum.
In Turkiye, AI-assisted robots are aiding search-and-rescue operations in the aftermath of fatal earthquakes, saving injured people from collapsed buildings.
AI-Powered Chatbots Break Down Barriers
Chatbots are yet another innovation in the age of AI that are now on the front lines of many humanitarian crises. In the aftermath of a hurricane, AI-powered chatbots direct people to shelters and connect families with much-needed resources and services. Chatbots are part of a growing list of use cases for AI at the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
With language barriers often common between refugees and local volunteers, chatbots can also ensure that displaced individuals receive crucial health information in their native tongue. That’s one part of Microsoft's AI for Humanitarian Action initiative, a $40 million program to use AI technology to be a force for good.
Ethical Deployment of AI
While technology in humanitarian aid holds great promise, some also see a potential downside. They worry that IT solutions could be misused — and that digitizing humanitarian missions could make the very human work of delivering aid a lot less humane.
In particular, AI in humanitarian aid is not without its ethical concerns. The technology is only as good as the data that it is trained on and machine-learning algorithms must be fed diverse datasets in order to serve vulnerable populations without bias. Transparency and accountability are equally key, which is why human oversight is often required as a type of guardrail. AI should enhance not replace judgement, particularly when it comes to potentially live-saving interventions. Also, data security and privacy must be maintained throughout any AI application.
Despite these concerns, by working together to develop responsible use cases and mitigate risks, humanitarians and technologists can unlock new solutions that help people in crisis turn their darkest days into new dawns.
The use cases for technology in humanitarian work are as plentiful as they are powerful, suggests Pierrick Devidal, senior policy adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross. For example, telemedicine can bring “advanced medical care to war-wounded victims in remote areas,” Devidal wrote in a blog post.
“Digital cash transfers enable faster economic assistance and increased autonomy for those who receive it. Facial recognition helps separated families find their loved ones.”
In another recent example, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Disaster Preparedness and Response team supported response operations after Hurricane Ian knocked out power to over 5 million people. Cloud-based services helped responders build a common operating picture, conduct site assessments, and establish interim connectivity for firehouses and distribution sites.
The potential is vast, according to Piyush Tripathi, a lead engineer at payment platform Square, which supports many nonprofit entities.
“Better data collection methods can come from technology such as drones to assess disaster damage quickly and efficiently,” he said.
“Mobile technology can boost donations, allowing donors from all around the world to contribute financially with a few taps on their phones. [And] satellite technology can be used for better coordination during a crisis, ensuring the right aid reaches the right people at the right time.”
Tripathi has firsthand experience: In a previous role he helped develop an emergency messaging system that supports millions of calls each year.
“If our system isn’t scalable enough to handle this, we could miss out on a chance to help — or even save — a life,” said Tripathi, who has used commercial cloud via AWS and Google Cloud Platform, as well as private cloud leveraging on-premises infrastructure.
“With the help of cloud technology, we were able to handle these calls, even when our resources were stretched.”
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) similarly utilizes cloud to support its relief efforts and other operations in more than 80 countries. “The cloud has been absolutely critical to our IT operations,” CIO Jason Gray told FedScoop in an interview.
In crisis conditions, cloud computing is uniquely suited to support aid delivery.
For emergency relief work, “there will be massive traffic coming into our servers. And when that emergency recedes in a week or two, or a month or two, we then need to scale down very quickly on the infrastructure. Cloud is a perfect fit for this,” said Ayasrah, who has utilized a mix of public and private cloud infrastructures.
Managing Risks
Despite the potential benefits, experts say aid groups need to be thoughtful about how they use technology.
Although technology enables robust communication, for example, that’s not always a good thing. The same technology that can enable communications between aid workers and emergency responders can be used to “spread disinformation and misinformation on a mass scale in crises, sowing confusion, increasing instability and undermining trust in humanitarian aid,” according to the United Nations.
Others worry about depersonalization.
“No one wants to feel like they're just an entry in a massive database when they’re in dire need of help,” Tripathi said.
“The pivot to digital can occasionally feel like it’s stripping away the personal touch that is so central to humanitarian aid. It can make processes feel more mechanical and less transparent.”
To avoid these and other hazards, it’s essential for aid groups to keep people at the forefront as they modernize.
“Organizations need to involve actors in the field with their digitization plan,” Ayasrah said. “This creates a sense of ownership for those teams on the ground and helps ensure their compliance. Those tools and systems are only as good as the people using them — you always have to look at it from a ‘systems, people and process’ perspective, making sure that all of those align.”
In Square’s technology initiatives, “we put in a lot of effort to educate both users and organizations,” Tripathi said.
“Even as we innovate, the human aspect has to be maintained. Tech shouldn’t replace human empathy and interaction; it should enhance our ability to offer it, even if it’s from behind a screen.”
As humanitarian groups look to technology, they’re thinking about meeting immediate needs and helping disaster-stricken areas become more resilient to future shocks.
“Solutions need to be designed in a way that is functional in the current situation, while also keeping in mind that this needs to scale up in the future,” Ayasrah said. “You always have to have long-term plans figured out.”
And that future looks brighter as technology is being skilfully leveraged to help those in need and save even more lives. As AI technology continues to grow and mature, the possibilities to have a greater positive impact in the midst of dangerous crises only grows stronger.
This is an updated version of the article originally published on December 8, 2023. Chase Guttman provided new reporting and revised this story.
Adam Stone is a journalist with more than 20 years of experience covering technology trends in the public and private sectors.
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