Milwaukee officials launch 'Project Forward 911: AI Innovation in Action'

'Project Forward 911: AI Innovation in Action' launch

The Milwaukee Department of Emergency Communications held a news conference on Wednesday, Jan. 14 to announce the launch of Project Forward 911: AI Innovation in Action.

MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Department of Emergency Communications held a news conference on Wednesday, Jan. 14 to announce the launch of Project Forward 911: AI Innovation in Action, featuring Govworx’s CommsCoach.

What we know:

According to a news release, Project Forward 911 is an AI-assisted quality assurance and training program designed to transform how our 911 center supports and empowers our call takers Operations.

"We are not turning 911 over to an AI intelligence platform. We're not automating emergency call handling, and we're not removing human judgment from life-critical decisions. What we are doing is using technology responsibly to support continuous improvement," said DEC Director Tony Bueno. "Comms Coach is an AI assisted call review and training tool. It helps us review more calls, more consistently and more fairly. It allows our supervisors and trainers to spend more time mentoring, coaching, and developing our staff, rather than looking for and researching calls."

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A news release says the launch of Project Forward 911 represents the next major step in bringing cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology into Milwaukee’s 911 operations to enhance performance, accelerate training, and strengthen community trust.

"This is not about replacing people. This is not about removing individuals who do these really, really important jobs in the City of Milwaukee," said Mayor Cavalier Johnson. "Instead, this is about using AI to help train and support human beings so that they can do their best work under, again, some of the most challenging, challenging situations and circumstances for folks relying on city service."