{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0298","record_version":2,"title":"Ava AI agent misclassified emergency caller as nonemergency during 2024 rollout","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":51.7,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":8.0,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-31","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":true,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-10-31","history":[{"date":"2026-10-31","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"44cc23c48f18d7ae40d72fee6e962c179c0f9fbb9b29854cc8f1e58391687e2c"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"Aurelian","harness":"Ava","tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":"Answering nonemergency call lines and transferring calls to human dispatchers","autonomy_level":"supervised-auto","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"production","tier":"enterprise","lifecycle_stage":"production","integration_type":"embedded","intended_use":"Answering nonemergency calls and routing or transferring callers to human dispatchers","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-10-31","incident_class":"operational_error","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":true,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"Ava, an AI agent made by Seattle startup Aurelian, answers nonemergency calls for Snohomish County 911 and other agencies.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":"provider","adversarial_actor":"none","input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":"Updates to Ava since then factor in situations like this.","precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"minor","severity_because":"minor: The misclassified call was quickly transferred to a human dispatcher, contained to one call with no third party harmed.","harm_class":["operational"],"affected_description":"A caller following up on an incident from two weeks earlier who was complaining of headaches","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.seattletimes.com/business/dialing-a-nonemergency-call-line-in-wa-it-might-be-ai-that-answers/","publisher":"The Seattle Times","date":"2026-10-31","type":"press","title":"Dialing a nonemergency call line in WA? It might be AI that answers","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.harness":"C","system.permissions_scope":"C","system.tier":"D","system.lifecycle_stage":"C","system.integration_type":"D","system.intended_use":"C","system.developer":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"C","event.responsible_party":"D","event.adversarial_actor":"D","event.remediation":"C","event.agent_involved":"C","event.summary":"D","event.incident_class":"D","event.date_disclosed":"A","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","impact.harm_class":"D","impact.affected_description":"C","impact.severity":"D","context.industry":"C","context.denominator":"D","context.systemic_exposure":"C","context.denominator_available":"D","context.country":"C","impact.severity_because":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The company behind Ava is Seattle-based startup Aurelian."}],"system.harness":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"It’s an AI agent that Snohomish County has been using for about two years for nonemergency calls."}],"system.permissions_scope":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Agencies can adjust the “resistance” in the system to guide how frequently Ava transfers calls to human dispatchers."}],"system.autonomy_level":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Behind Ava’s humanlike voice are AI models that rapidly deliberate to process conversations, choose responses and decide when to involve a human dispatcher."}],"system.deployment_context":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Snohomish County 911, or SNO911, was one of Ava’s earliest adopters, incorporating the technology in November 2024 into its nonemergency line, which people use to report things like noise complaints or past crimes."}],"system.lifecycle_stage":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Snohomish County 911, or SNO911, was one of Ava’s earliest adopters, incorporating the technology in November 2024 into its nonemergency line, which people use to report things like noise complaints or past crimes."}],"system.integration_type":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"It’s an AI agent that Snohomish County has been using for about two years for nonemergency calls."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"With AI focusing on minor calls, dispatchers can focus on the bigger ones, Carico added."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"It’s an AI agent that Snohomish County has been using for about two years for nonemergency calls."}],"event.agent_involved":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"It’s an AI agent that Snohomish County has been using for about two years for nonemergency calls."}],"event.remediation":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Keenan said updates to Ava since then factor in situations like this."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The call was quickly transferred to a dispatcher but should have been immediately flagged as an emergency."}],"event.responsible_party":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The company behind Ava is Seattle-based startup Aurelian."}],"event.adversarial_actor":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Keenan said the error happened in 2024, as the technology first rolled out, and involved a caller following up on an incident from two weeks earlier who was complaining of headaches."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Keenan said the error happened in 2024, as the technology first rolled out, and involved a caller following up on an incident from two weeks earlier who was complaining of headaches."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The call was quickly transferred to a dispatcher but should have been immediately flagged as an emergency."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"There are also signs the technology is helping with dispatcher shortages in emergency call centers and easing workloads for people in these often emotionally taxing jobs."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The technology is fielding these calls in 20 or more states nationwide and in at least eight Washington counties — Snohomish, Kitsap, Mason, Grant, Cowlitz, Clark, Chelan and Douglas."}],"context.systemic_exposure":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The technology is fielding these calls in 20 or more states nationwide and in at least eight Washington counties — Snohomish, Kitsap, Mason, Grant, Cowlitz, Clark, Chelan and Douglas."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The call was quickly transferred to a dispatcher but should have been immediately flagged as an emergency."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The call was quickly transferred to a dispatcher but should have been immediately flagged as an emergency."}],"event.date_disclosed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"published: 2026-10-31"}]},"notes_on_gaps":"No source states the model family or version (model_name/model_version null). No source states who first noticed the misclassification, so detection_method is unknown and story.caught is null. No source states a cause for the misclassification, so trigger is unknown and root_cause is unknown. No source states a date for the call beyond '2024', so date_occurred is null. No source states a loss figure, record count, or third-party count; third_parties_affected_count is null (not zero). failure_class is null because the source describes a plain misclassification with no agent-mechanism evidence. incident_class operational_error is a grade-D classification from the described wrong state with no adversary or self-directed goal. severity minor is a judgement: one call, quickly transferred, no stated harm. autonomy_level supervised-auto is inferred from dispatchers being able to adjust transfer resistance and take calls, not from an explicit statement of monitoring. system.tier: enterprise by rule (operator Snohomish County 911 (SNO911) differs from developer Aurelian). [aggregated by deepseek-chat, aggregate-2026-09-27.1, 2026-10-31] system.integration_type: classified from described behaviour. system.autonomy_level: a source states the agent acted while a person watched or could stop it. event.responsible_party: classified from described behaviour. event.adversarial_actor: classified from described behaviour. event.summary: classified from described behaviour. event.incident_class: classified from described behaviour. event.trigger: no source states a cause. event.detection_method: no source says who first noticed. impact.harm_class: classified from described behaviour. context.denominator: classified from described behaviour. context.denominator_available: classified from described behaviour."},"context":{"industry":"Emergency call centers (911 dispatch)","org_size_band":null,"country":"US","denominator_available":true,"denominator":{"value":192000.0,"unit":"other","period":"2026"},"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":true,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"Ava, an AI agent built by Seattle startup Aurelian, answers nonemergency calls for Snohomish County 911 and other agencies, processing conversations, choosing responses and deciding when to transfer callers to human dispatchers.","quote":"Behind Ava’s humanlike voice are AI models that rapidly deliberate to process conversations, choose responses and decide when to involve a human dispatcher.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"Ava treated an emergency as a nonemergency: a caller complaining of headaches should have been immediately flagged as an emergency but was not.","quote":"The call was quickly transferred to a dispatcher but should have been immediately flagged as an emergency.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The call reached a human dispatcher after a quick transfer, so the caller was not left without help.","quote":"The call was quickly transferred to a dispatcher but should have been immediately flagged as an emergency.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"The call was transferred to a dispatcher, and Keenan said updates to Ava since then factor in situations like this.","quote":"Keenan said updates to Ava since then factor in situations like this.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"deepseek-chat","prompt_version":"aggregate-2026-09-27.1","extracted_at":"2026-10-31","source_urls":["https://www.seattletimes.com/business/dialing-a-nonemergency-call-line-in-wa-it-might-be-ai-that-answers/"]}}