An artificial intelligence model has been trained to detect weapons seen in security camera footage, and send an alert immediately.
Iterate.ai, the company behind the technology, originally created it for a customer dealing with theft in their stores a few years ago. But soon after, the company realized it might be a helpful tool to detect weapons in schools using security cameras that are already in place.
“It will connect to existing cameras, it will take those videos from existing cameras and it will look for weapons, or people carrying weapons, or people wearing a Kevlar vest,” said Brian Sathianathan, the co-founder and chief technology officer at Iterate.ai.
They have open sourced the technology, meaning schools, churches, community centers, you name it, can download and use the AI for free.
@scrippsnews This artificial intelligence tech can detect and immediately alert someone if it notices a weapon, using security camera footage. And now, it’s free for schools, churches, and other community centers to implement themselves. #tech #GunViolence #ArtificialIntelligence ♬ original sound - Scripps News
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“Over time we realized there is a lot more gun violence in schools and schools needed help,” said Sathianathan.
From 2000 to 2021, 108 people were killed and another 168 were wounded in active shooter incidents at elementary and secondary schools, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
As artificial intelligence has become more common, Iterate.ai hopes this can be another tool for the community to use to combat gun violence.
“As these things are installed, it gets better and better as it learns more and more,” he said.
The weapon detection tech can be found here, for those interested in implementing it.
“We encourage everybody to keep contributing to it, and make changes, make additions,” said Sathianathan.
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