Seattle Fire Department has been using artificial intelligence (AI) technology from Danish company Corti to listen to 911 medical calls and support dispatch decisions, according to a report by The Seattle Times.
The system reportedly analyses what callers say during medical emergency calls and can issue real-time prompts advising dispatchers to route certain patients to a nurse-staffed call centre in Texas rather than sending an ambulance immediately.
The department confirmed that the use of the technology had taken place without disclosure to callers or public review. Live AI prompts are understood to have been used since December 2023, although Seattle’s relationship with Corti dates back several years.
Chris Lombard, SFD’s Assistant Chief of Resource Management said dispatchers retain “the ultimate authority” over how each call is handled. “Every determination on a 911 call … is made by a trained SFD dispatcher following SFD’s protocols.”
A Corti spokesperson also said the technology is designed to support trained dispatchers and does not replace clinical judgement, adding that Corti doesn’t own the data from the calls and is barred from using it to train its AI models for other customers.
However, legal and technology experts have raised concerns about the lack of public notification, the absence of a formal review under Seattle’s surveillance rules, and the limited information available on how the system’s performance is being measured.
The controversy also comes amid wider scrutiny of Seattle’s nurse line, which is operated by the city’s ambulance contractor, American Medical Response, and is exempt from some response-time standards that apply to ambulance dispatches.
Seattle officials have said they are developing a public-facing framework for AI governance, including how previously authorised uses of AI should be assessed against public interest, privacy and accountability standards.
