Google confirms AI can predict the most common natural disaster 7 days before it happens

Google has announced that its AI system is capable of predicting the most common natural disaster up to seven days before it happens.

The new research has been published in the scientific journal Nature and details a new machine-learning model that has been trained on historical event data, river level readings, elevation and terrain readings, and any other relevant information that is necessary to arrive at a prediction. Following the model being trained, it was then strained by running "hundreds of thousands" of simulations of flooding events occurring in each location. The result of the training and simulations is that the model is now capable of predicting riverine floods up to seven days in advance, according to Google.

Google states that the use of this AI-powered model will help solve the riverine flooding problem on a global scale. Notably, the model was able to successfully predict a flood seven days in advance in some cases, but on average landed on five days. Furthermore, Google has said that this new technology has "reliability of currently-available global nowcasts from zero to five days."

Additionally, Google has made this forecast information available in Google Search, Google Maps, and via Android notifications, with even more information being found in the company's Flood Hub webb app. Google is striving toward creating a "global end-to-end flood forecasting platform."