Developer Builds Ashraya AI, a Voice-Based Disaster Response Agent in 10 Days

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A developer built Ashraya AI, a voice-first disaster-response assistant, over 10 days as part of the VoiceForBharat Edition challenge by Murf AI. The system uses Deepgram for speech-to-text, Google's Gemini as the AI backbone, and Murf Falcon for text-to-speech to enable natural voice conversations during emergencies. Rather than a single all-purpose agent, Ashraya uses a specialist-agent architecture where a main agent can hand off shelter-related queries to a dedicated Shelter Information Specialist. The voice-first design addresses the reality that disaster victims may be too stressed or occupied to type, allowing them to simply speak their situation aloud. A key design priority was preventing hallucinations, as an AI that sounds confident during emergencies could cause serious harm if it provides inaccurate information.

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