Artificial intelligence sees construction site accidents before they happen

A construction site is a dangerous place to work, with a fatal accident rate five times higher than that of any other industry. Now a number of big construction companies are testing technology that could save lives, and money, by predicting when accidents will happen. Suffolk, a construction giant based in Boston, has been developing the system for more than a yearin collaboration with SmartVid, a computer vision company in the same city. Earlier this year, the company persuaded several of its competitors to join a consortium that would share data to improve the technology. Jit Kee Chin, chief data officer and an executive vice president at Suffolk, discussed the project and the collaboration at EmTech Next, a conference hosted by MIT Technology Reviewthis week.