As technology marches on, we are reaching some interesting inflection points. I have found that there are many devices and software programs that appear to be smarter than me, which is quite disconcerting. (Ever see “Terminator 2”?)

A good example is Google. I have been selling some of my guitars on the internet, because I had eight of them but you can only play one at a time. As part of the sales process, I’ve Googled the specific instruments to see what prices others are charging for their guitars. Now when I go on Google, the pull-down menu automatically offers musical instrument sales websites. This is an example of artificial intelligence. Google learns what I’m usually looking for, and steers me toward those websites.

AI is a technology that is desperately needed in today’s video security applications. How many security camera images/videos have you seen on the news where, even though the perpetrator is visible, the images presented don’t provide enough information to identify the perp?

We are awash in millions of video streams being recorded every hour of every day, but it is realistically impossible to review hours and hours of video from a single camera. Large installations multiply the problem, as each camera’s video may hold a clue to how an event happened; all the customer has to do is find the video that shows the action, which might take hours if done manually.

Turing AI is a high-tech video analysis service that can quickly zero in on one or multiple events that have been captured on video. And the clips can be saved and shared from a smartphone as easily as using YouTube. The service works with ONVIF-compliant IP cameras, while existing analog cameras can be connected to IP video encoders. The video is stored on the AWS cloud, and users can review it in a variety of ways to help locate specific people, vehicles and events. As a recent example, Turing’s Smart and Intelligent Alert system played a vital role and helped capture a suspect who was charged with burglary and sexual assault in the town of Surfside Beach, S.C.

The Surfside Beach police chief credits the department’s newly installed cameras for quickly identifying a wanted suspect in a sex assault. (Source: wmbfnews.com)

There are three basic levels at which the Turing system can quickly review a stored video. INSERT Turing System.png

Level 1 can provide video of specific people or vehicles from one or several cameras, while Level 2 provides facial recognition and license plate numbers. Level 3 provides the potential for very detailed searching, such as long or short pants or shirt sleeves, clothing colors, the make and color of a vehicle, and many other granular attributes that can help the viewer quickly locate a specific person or vehicle and see them on their screen.

With hundreds of sites installed in the last 12 months, the Turing AI system is rapidly being accepted by end users as an efficient way to review videos and minimize searching and viewing time. While the service is very powerful, it is also adjustable to meet various state/local BIPA (Biometric Information Privacy Act) laws that may prohibit the use of facial recognition and other possible AI uses and applications.

Turing AI searches can be pre-set to detect certain events and trigger alerts as they happen, providing multiple notification methods such as text and emails. End users can easily set an alert for a person of interest and receive a notification when they enter any connected site or multiple sites. Former employees, unruly customers or expelled students can be identified before they enter the building. It’s literally a “good guy/bad guy” detector.

Because the video clips are stored in the cloud, any local destruction of video cameras or NVRs will have no effect on the Turing AI’s functionality.

A valuable feature of the Turing AI system is that it will provide “health monitoring” of client cameras and other connected devices. If a camera is damaged or disconnected, the system generates alerts to inform both the installation company and the end user that there’s a problem.

My faithful readers may be saying, “So what?” Indeed, there are other AI systems out there that potentially provide some similar features to the Turing offering. The “so what” is that Turing’s president is Ron Rothman, a multi-decade security industry professional who started at the bottom and worked his way up to important positions in major security and life safety system companies. Ron gets it, and knows that dealers need support — not just in the planning and initial phases of system installations, but after the system has been turned on.  

A large part of Turing's investment is its Partner Portal; helping dealers manage system licensing, programming and updates remotely to lower labor costs, speed installations and minimize truck rolls. Turing has assembled and trained 25+ sales representatives and engineers to support its customers as it continues to improve and refine its service to meet dealer and end user needs.

When the person at the top has been in the field with dealers, understands their concerns and is dedicated to providing superior support, installing companies can be confident that Turing will be a superior partner to help them provide sophisticated AI video reviewing and desired annunciations.

For more information, visit turing.ai and start offering your customers video systems with truly superior analysis capabilities.