New Artificial Intelligence Tools For Deep Conflict Resolution and Humanitarian Response

Truly understanding what others need and want, how they see the world, and how they feel are core prerequisites for successful conflict resolution and humanitarian response. Today, however, human cognitive limitations, insufficient expertise in the right hands, and difficulty in managing complex social, conflict, and real-world knowledge conspire to prevent us from reaching our ultimate potential. This paper introduces cogSolv, a highly novel Artificial Intelligence system capable of understanding how people from other groups view the world, simulating their reactions, and combining this with knowledge of the real world in order to persuade, find negotiation win-wins and enhance outcomes, avoid offense, provide peacekeeping decision tools, and protect emergency responders' health. Ready to go today, portable, and requiring virtually no specialist expertise, cogSolv allows governments and local NGOs to use expert culture and conflict resolution knowledge to accurately perform a wide range of humanitarian simulations. cogSolv assists responders with training, managing complexity, centralizing and sharing knowledge, and, ultimately, maximizing the potential for equitable conflict resolution and maximally effective humanitarian response. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.