Domestic researchers have developed an AI-based disaster psychological recovery platform to help citizens recover from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by disasters.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced that it will conduct research under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety until 2025 to efficiently restore disaster damage, quickly return disaster victims to their daily lives, and support the normalization of national infrastructure functions. The project title is the task 'Development of Assessment Methods for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder by Disaster Type and Psychological Recovery Models' under the 'Technology Development Project for Strengthening Disaster Damage Recovery Capabilities'.

The research team is developing an AI disaster psychological recovery platform and core element technologies capable of remotely providing high-quality 'disaster psychological recovery support' by matching disaster psychology specialists using AI and evaluating the state of psychological recovery.

This serves as a psychological assessment tool for various age groups, including not only adults but also children and adolescents, and establishes an online remote support system to prepare for regional disasters as well as nationwide events such as pandemics.

The platform currently under development is expected to aid in the psychological recovery of disaster victims by actively utilizing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) during the recovery process from various disasters, such as earthquakes, typhoons, war, fires, building collapses, and pandemics. The greatest significance lies in establishing a platform-based system capable of accurate diagnosis, tracking, and connecting to services regarding the various aftereffects of a disaster.

ETRI is embarking on development in collaboration with the Korea Trauma Research & Education Institute, Saltlux Innovation, Tronics, Hutron, and Kwangshin University consortium, and the research team is pursuing the development of an AI model capable of evaluating the public's disaster psychology based on the Kor-BERT language model held as a foundational technology.

In addition, to enhance the accuracy of disaster psychological assessment AI models, a multimodal-based AI model that analyzes video and audio together, in addition to natural language processing, is also being developed.

The research team also plans to support gatherings in virtual spaces by linking with commercial metaverse platforms to facilitate the effective psychological recovery of disaster victims.

The research team anticipates that once this technology is established as a system, it will be possible to provide various therapeutic content necessary for recovering from psychological damage caused by disasters, manage treatment history, and offer customized treatment support tailored to different levels.

Lee Gil-haeng, Head of the Honam Regional Research Center at ETRI, stated, “We plan to accurately assess the psychological state of disaster victims to help them return to their daily lives quickly. Through the development of the disaster psychological recovery platform, we will contribute to improving the quality of life for the public in situations such as global infectious disease pandemics.”