Needless to say, AI or artificial intelligence has become a growing phenomenon. While it has indeed contributed quite a lot to security, there are still questions that need to be considered when installing AI.
Needless to say,
AI or artificial intelligence has become a growing phenomenon. While it has indeed contributed quite a lot to security, there are still questions that need to be considered when installing AI.
“High expectations and extravagant promises (about AI) abound, particularly in the field of video security technology: Here, the ideas about what it can do range from detecting unusual behaviors such as attacks on individuals to recognizing individual faces even in large crowds of people to automatic detection of the proverbial ‘bomb in a suitcase,’” said
Dallmeier. “At the beginning of a hype cycle, when innovations are being introduced, people often ignore the fact that new technologies always require public debate and changes to very real framework conditions before they can be implemented wholesale.”
In this regard, Dallmeier has published four statements about AI which are summarized as follows.
When considering combined AI and video technology solutions, much more than just technology needs to be considered.
According to the company, there are various unresolved questions when AI is used in video security technology, for example how much freedom to decide should a system be given? What quality criteria will be established for detecting objects? Who is to be held accountable when an attack is not detected? These all need to be considered.
AI and video technology only function in a “technologically holistic approach.”
It is essential to evaluate all of the parameters that affect the performance of a whole solution – for example is the
camera system good enough to deliver good AI or
facial recognition results? “The IT axiom ‘garbage in, garbage out’ is most apposite in this context,” Dallmeier said. “It will be particularly important to be able to define and plan minimum picture qualities properly in all parts of the video image, plan camera angles correctly, and consider many other details. And the person behind the system must also be included in the overall consideration with regard to qualification and organizational questions. In short: Unless all factors are tuned to work together, it will not be possible to ensure compliance with standards – which by the way have not even been defined yet.”
There are indeed viable solutions which perform good service as “assistance systems.”
While AI has enhanced video surveillance a lot, it’s important to note that it’s an “assistive” technology at best, Dallmeier said. “Today and probably for a long time to come, a human is still at the center – the operator, the
policeman, the forensic specialist. And it is for these functions that AI in video technology now already delivers useful assistance systems. They are being improved rapidly and take over tedious, error-prone tasks,” it said. “But contrary to all the advertising features on YouTube, automatic location of a planted ‘suitcase bomb’ in complex circumstances is still well beyond current technological capabilities.”
The market must learn to distinguish between functioning solutions and research projects.
According to the company, every technical innovation is predestined to contend with ambiguous definitions, exaggerated expectations and variable interpretations of its capabilities: No one “really knows,” but everyone involved has an opinion. “This is why it is important to examine and question closely: Which functions are market-ready and implementable – even if a little tweaking is needed – and what is still purely in the realm of research,” the company asked. “Particularly with a view to strategic decisions and investments, prospective users should always begin by asking themselves whether a given result can be expected in twelve months, five years, or ever. Otherwise, they run the risk of losing sight of obvious solutions to pressing problems.”