Security Sales & Integration May 2023 - 6

Between Us Pros
scott.goldfine@emeraldx.com | @SSIeditor
Saying 'Aye' to AI
▶ ATTENDING ISC WEST during the period
in which this edition - SSI's annual AI Issue
While the
possibilities
are fascinating
and exciting
(some would
say scary),
we are on the
precipice of a
bold new world
that demands
proceeding
with great care,
diligence, and
mindfulness.
- was produced could not have been more
timely as the loudest buzz (cynics might say
hype) around what appeared to be this show's
most robust turnout ever was unquestionably
artificial intelligence. This makes sense as AI
is going to transform the way modern society
lives, works and conducts business across industries.
Electronic security - with its access
control, video surveillance and other systems'
capacity to aggregate large datasets and its mission
to safeguard people and assets - is near
the top of that list. AI holds the key to realizing
dreams like the elimination of false alarms,
real-time response, and even predicting and preventing
incidents. The prospects are astounding
and game changing.
No wonder on the ISC expo floor, to varying
Editor-in-Chief and
Associate Publisher Scott
Goldfine, an Industry Hall
of Famer, has spent 25
years with SSI.
6
degrees, most of the largest and familiar vendors,
and especially newer entrants, promoted either
AI-centric products or the incorporation of the
technology into their products - often in concert
with specialized partners. And while the advertised
and, in some cases, demonstrated capabilities
of many of these solutions are impressive,
the rollout and application of AI-heavy security
solutions is in its infancy. In fact, many are still
trying to get a handle on what constitutes AI.
According to IBM, artificial intelligence
combines computer science and robust datasets
to enable problem-solving. It also encompasses
subfields of machine learning and deep
learning, which are frequently mentioned in
conjunction with AI. While the possibilities are
fascinating and exciting (some would say scary),
we are on the precipice of a bold new world that
demands proceeding with great care, diligence,
and mindfulness.
As our industry advances AI's real-world security
capabilities and fleshes out its use cases, we
must endeavor to avoid the premature and overhyped
missteps of technologies like video analytics
and biometrics (now both greatly improved
and viable) following 9-11. Deep and ongoing
communication and education with the general
public and legislators is essential, lest we find
ourselves in the kind of quagmire that has beset
Security Sales & Integration MAY 2023
the widespread adoption and deployment of a
powerful technology like facial recognition.
" With AI, you don't need to know anything
about that individual, their identity, their demographic
characteristics, all this stuff that is
incorporated into facial recognition, " Phillipe
Sawaya, co-founder of AI startup Percepta, told
me. That business was acquired by ADT Commercial,
where Sawaya was recently named the
company's first-ever director of artificial intelligence.
" You don't need to know any of that to
determine what's happening. Their current behavior,
what's going on around them, that's all
that should be needed to make informed analytic
decisions. Frankly, the backlash against facial
is a good indicator for the industry that our
customers are rightfully critical and paying close
attention to if we need that level of invasiveness
to accomplish the end goal. "
Coming out of the gate with a baseline of
reasonable perceptions and expectations, compelling
applications, and well informed and
trained providers are keys to successful acceptance,
adoption, and advancement. The overriding
factor is ensuring the use of AI serves not
only in the best interests of clients but the public
good at large.
" We've pursued ethical AI since the start for
just basic human ethical reasons. As AI becomes
more commonplace and more capable, there are
going to be a lot more reasons for companies to
share our concern for ethical AI, be it the development
of regulation or limitations on where
and how AI can be used. More and more, ethical
AI is going to become not so much an ethical
aspirational goal, but really a practical must for
the development of AI solutions, " Sawaya adds.
" What that means on the technology side is
there's going to be a lot more standardization
of what it means to be ethical. Every analytics
company on the planet today probably says,
'Unbiased or privacy-preserving,' or something
like that on their website. But I'd wager every
company has a different definition of what that
means. As that definition becomes standardized,
there'll be a lot of catch-up in the methods and
tools to measure bias and to what degree something
preserves privacy, and how the AI models
run themselves. "
For much more on how ADT Commercial is
pursuing AI and robotics, see this month's cover
story on page 20.
securitysales.com
http://www.securitysales.com
Security Sales & Integration May 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Security Sales & Integration May 2023
