​Symbolic artificial intelligence algorithms, which simulate complex reasoning and apply it to heterogeneous and uncertain data, can be extremely useful decision-assistance tools in crisis management scenarios. As part of a project backed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and France's Occitanie regional CLE fund, CEA-List partnered with CGX, a company specializing in geographical information systems, to bring the reasoning capabilities of ExpressIF® to wildfire management professionals.

New spatial data processing capabilities were implemented to more effectively assess a potential on-site response and help determine the best course of action. In the first module, the "rules" expressed in structured language (close to natural language) were used not only to model the spatial reasoning to be applied, but also to process both detailed geographic data and weather forecasts to predict the fire's development over time and space. The second module used the temporal reasoning capabilities of ExpressIF® to monitor the temperatures of assets like vehicles and people on the ground, assess the associated risks, and raise alerts in the event of danger.

The human-machine interface (HMI) developed by CEA Tech Occitanie provides a dedicated module for inputting data (locations, events, means, resources, etc.) and displays the results directly on a map in a web app. Further developments to track the rules applied are underway, with the goal of delivering an automated explanation of the results.

The unique spatial and temporal reasoning capabilities of ExpressIF®, combined with its ability to intelligibly process uncertain data, will be extended and applied to other critical scenarios, setting the platform on a course to become a leading AI technology for crisis management.