AI Tool Helps Send $1K To Some Hurricane Helene, Milton Victims

FLORIDA — A nonprofit organization is using artificial intelligence to send financial assistance to nearly 1,000 households affected by hurricanes Helene and Milton in North Carolina and Florida, ABC News first reported.

GiveDirectly, which collects funds from donors to send money directly to the world’s poorest households, will send $1,000 to these households starting on Friday.

As of Friday afternoon, the organization raised $1.2 million of its $2 million goal through 695 donations, according to its website. There are 16 days left to donate funds to those affected by Helene and Milton.

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Sarasota as a Category 3 storm before tearing across central Florida, destroying homes and leaving more than 3.4 million without power in its aftermath.

Weeks earlier, Hurricane Helene tore across six states after making landfall in Florida’s Big Bend area as a Category 4 storm, causing life-threatening storm surge to flood the state’s coastal communities and leveling neighborhoods across the U.S. Southeast.

Using a Google-developed AI tool, GiveDirectly targeted areas with the most low-income homes and storm damages.

Then, on Tuesday, the organization invited people in those communities to enroll in its program via Propel, an app that’s used to manage government food stamp benefits.

Donations made to GiveDirectly will be dispersed to the households selected and will be deposited to the app.

The emergency cash will help those affected by the hurricanes with their immediate needs, including food, water, generators, medicine and diapers; home and car repairs; phone and utility bills; and rent or hotel payments.

Related:

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• Family, Dog Rescued From Chest-Level Floodwaters: Watch
• 105-Year-Old Recovering After Hurricane Milton Destroyed FL Home
• Owner Who Abandoned Dog In Milton Flood Waters Arrested: Officials

GiveDirectly previously sent donated funds to those impacted by Hurricanes Ian and Fiona in 2022.

Since it was founded in 2009, the organization has collected and delivered more than $800 million in cash to more than 1.6 million people living in poverty in places like Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Morocco, Rwanda, Uganda and the U.S.