AI incident #1546 ·
Google Android Earthquake Alerts System Reportedly Underestimated Kahramanmaraş Earthquake and Failed to Send Urgent Warnings to Millions
What happened
During the February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake sequence, Google's Android Earthquake Alerts system reportedly estimated the initial magnitude-7.8 earthquake at only magnitude 4.5–4.9. Just 469 users reportedly received its highest-level "Take Action" warning, while approximately 500,000 received lower-level notices; researchers later estimated that roughly 10 million people could have received urgent warnings providing up to 35 seconds to seek safety.
Only the incident metadata is stored here. The underlying news reports are on the AI Incident Database (CC BY-SA 4.0); use the links above to read them.
News reports (6)
Coverage catalogued by the AI Incident Database. Titles link to the original publisher; the text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
- Alleged deployer
- Google, Earthquake Early Warning System Deployers
- Alleged developer
- Google, Earthquake Early Warning System Developers
- Alleged harmed party
- Public Safety, People Exposed To Earthquake Hazards, General Public Of Turkey, General Public, Android Users In Earthquake Affected Areas Of Turkey, Android Users In Earthquake Affected Areas, Android Users
Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)
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