Artificial Intelligence Bolsters Physical Security

In the wake of the May 2018 mass shooting that resulted in 10 deaths at Santa Fe (Texas) High School, the Santa Fe Independent School District looked at all possible options to improve school safety within reasonable financial constraints. The district considered the idea of technology to enhance its approximately 750 cameras with facial recognition but did not immediately see a workable solution -- for reasons of cost, and concerns about shaky accuracy that could lead to false positives, says Kip Robins, director of technology for Santa Fe ISD, which has about 4,500 students. The district ultimately contracted with a company called AnyVision, which demonstrated its Better Tomorrow product, an artificial-intelligence-based application that plugs into an existing camera network and provides the ability to do surveillance based on a certain face, body or object. School districts or other end users can create a watch list to keep an eye out for potential pedophiles, for example, or someone known to be mentally unstable. The Santa Fe ISD's solution is part of a growing cadre of software offerings that use artificial intelligence to power through reams of data and notice certain predetermined visual information – whether it's someone's face, or a certain license plate, or simply human movement in a place and time where there shouldn't be any.