Paper details
| Paper authors | Mihir R. Bhatt, Vishal Pathak, Akash Yadav |
| In panel on | AI solutions for humanitarian challenges |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
Abstract: Extreme heat has become one of the most pressing climate challenges in India, especially for small businesses operating in informal and outdoor environments. These businesses face not only economic losses but also significant health risks due to rising temperatures and lack of support. In response to this growing crisis, All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) piloting an innovative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven early warning and intervention system. The pilot is focusing on delivery of localized, timely, and actionable message alerts to over 2000 small businesses, community trainers, and informal workers across selected regions in India.
The system combining three key components: adaptation knowledge, real-time extreme heat data from weather agencies, and AI-powered persona-based messaging. Messages are being tailoring using a large language model (LLM) and sending via SMS and Whats app to ensure accessibility, cultural relevance, and urgency. The pilot is in progress and this document is a working document about capturing the overall process and experience of the pilot and offers lessons on how AI can enhance community level early warning systems by making them more inclusive, personalized, and behaviourally effective.
The pilot is shaped based on the interactions with small businesses resulted into demand of extreme heat early warning with practical and actionable steps for the safety of health and/or business and/or family members. Personalization, cultural context, and user trust played a central role in making the intervention successful. This paper also identifies challenges such as language diversity, trust in automation, and behavioural inertia, offering insights for scaling and improvement. The pilot serves as a replicable model for how AI can support climate resilience, particularly for vulnerable small business ecosystems on the frontlines of climate change.
