AI-generated notifications alert Boulder County area residents to fires, shootings that don’t exist

On Jan. 30, some Frederick area residents received a notification that firefighters were battling a “commercial blaze” downtown.

A screenshot of the alert was shared to Facebook, sparking concern that was quickly dispelled by one commenter who wrote: “I’m sitting in an office in that building and there is nothing going on.”

An emergency notification app that uses artificial intelligence had misinterpreted radio traffic from a training exercise that simulated a structure fire in downtown, according to a post from the Frederick-Firestone Fire Protection District.

“This incident is a good reminder of the importance of verifying information through multiple reliable sources before sharing or acting on it,” the post reads…

Story continues

TRENDING NOW

LATEST LOCAL NEWS