California’s wildfire chatbot prompts fire protection concerns

Wildfire AI chatbot raises public fire protection concerns

California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has launched an AI-powered chatbot designed to improve public access to wildfire information and fire protection guidance.

According to Route Fifty, the tool was developed as part of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2023 executive order to boost government services using generative AI.

The chatbot, created by Citibot, provides answers based on content from the Cal Fire website and ReadyForWildfire.org.

Although it can correctly identify active wildfires and give general preparedness tips, testing by CalMatters found that it fails to offer consistent answers or the most current information.

These limitations have prompted researchers and technology experts to question whether AI deployment by California agencies is being appropriately evaluated.

Evaluation methods and chatbot performance under scrutiny

Daniel Ho, law professor at Stanford University, said that evaluation processes should be central to deploying AI tools in the public sector.

Ho said: “Evaluation is not an afterthought. It should be part of the standard expectation when we pilot and roll out a system like this.

“There should also be clear benchmarks created by an independent third party to measure performance.”

CalMatters found that small changes in how questions were phrased caused the chatbot to deliver inconsistent answers, especially on evacuation kit contents.

Although the bot was able to list items when asked about an “evacuation kit,” it failed to do so when other common phrases like “go bag” or “fire preparedness kit” were used.

In some instances, the chatbot linked to external webpages instead of providing direct answers, even though the relevant phrases were included on the referenced sites.

Containment status and recruitment information outdated

When asked about the Ranch Fire in San Bernardino County, the chatbot gave an update that was six days old, stating that the fire was 50 percent contained.

At the time of the query, the fire was already 85 percent contained.

A separate question about Cal Fire job vacancies also produced inaccurate results.

The chatbot stated that there were no openings, but a check on the state’s official employment site revealed two active listings.

Mila Gascó-Hernandez, research director at the University at Albany’s Center for Technology in Government, said: “If a fire is coming and you need to know how to react to it, you do need both accuracy and consistency in the answer.

“You’re not going to think about ‘what’s the nice way to ask the chatbot?’”

Limitations in emergency response information

The chatbot cannot provide reliable information about evacuation orders, according to testing.

Depending on how the question was phrased, it either returned no answer or gave an incomplete response.

In some cases, it incorrectly identified the issuing authority.

Cal Fire’s Deputy Chief of Communications, Issac Sanchez, said the system should be able to answer evacuation-related questions more reliably.

Sanchez said: “The answer should be ‘there doesn’t appear to be any evacuations associated with this incident’ if none are in place.

“It really was started with the intent and the goal of having a better-informed public about Cal Fire.

“We’re combing through the queries to improve future responses.”

Experts urge improved design before public release

Both Ho and Gascó-Hernandez emphasised that better public sector AI requires structured design and pre-launch user testing.

Ho said that defining performance benchmarks before selecting a vendor is essential.

Gascó-Hernandez added that representative user engagement before deployment improves the relevance of the information provided.

She said: “These user engagement and user experiences are very important so the citizen ends up using the chatbot.”

Cal Fire said it will continue to refine the system, with a commitment to host the chatbot until at least 2027.

Updates have already been made to expand its capability in response to user feedback.

California fire chatbot accuracy questioned by experts: Summary

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has launched an AI chatbot to provide fire protection information.

It was developed under Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2023 executive order promoting AI in government services.

The chatbot uses Cal Fire and ReadyForWildfire.org content to respond to public queries.

It was developed by Citibot and will be hosted through 2027.

CalMatters tested the chatbot and found inconsistent and outdated responses.

Inaccuracies included outdated wildfire containment figures and missing job vacancy listings.

The chatbot failed to consistently answer questions about evacuation kits and orders.

Stanford’s Daniel Ho said evaluation must occur before system rollout.

Mila Gascó-Hernandez from the University at Albany said AI chatbots require accurate and consistent outputs.

Cal Fire’s Issac Sanchez confirmed the agency is reviewing user queries to improve the tool.

He said the tool was created to better inform the public about Cal Fire.

Cal Fire continues to update the chatbot based on public interactions.