Artificial intelligence will supercharge surveillance

The first signs of the combination of AI and surveillance are beginning to emerge. In December 2017, the digital surveillance manufacturer IC Realtime, launched a web and app platform named Ella that uses AI to analyse video feeds and make them instantly searchable - like a Google for CCTV. Company CEO Matt Sailor demonstrated a version of Ella hooked up to 40 cameras trained on an industrial park that was able to respond with relevant footage to searches such as "a man wearing red" or "UPS vans". Users can help train the AI by giving positive or negative feedback. Ella runs on Google Cloud and can search footage from any CCTV system, small or large. Users pay a monthly fee for access starting at $7 and rising with the number of cameras. The system is one example of the potential for artificial intelligence to turn CCTV from a passive monitoring device that's only checked when there's a problem to an active surveillance system that enables tracking of large numbers of people across cities and inside malls and other spaces. 
https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/23/16907238/artificial-intelligence-surveillance-cameras-security
Writer: James Vincent