Hanwha Vision and A.I. Tech: Driving AI in video forward

The latest in our ongoing series introducing some of Hanwha Vision’s pioneering partners has us meet with Alessia Saggese, co-owner at A.I. Tech. Here, Alessia discusses how cutting-edge video analytics are significantly improving detection and reducing false alarms in video.

Thanks for meeting with us Alessia, can you tell us about A.I. Tech?

A.I. Tech is an Italian company founded in 2012 that has developed cutting-edge video analytics solutions based on best-in-class AI. We have over 20 different video analytics applications that are being used in more than 60 countries globally, across several sectors from security and retail to smart cities and smart parking.

What is your role at A.I. Tech?

I am one of the co-owners of A.I. Tech and I’m also an Associate Professor at the University of Salerno, with a focus on computer vision and pattern recognition techniques for video and audio surveillance. At A.I. Tech, we all have decades of experience in the AI field, with the owners/founders all Professors at the University of Salerno and widely recognised by the international scientific community in this field. In other words, developing innovative AI applications and putting them to use in society is core to our company. 

Tell us about the partnership between A.I. Tech and Hanwha Vision Europe.

Our partnership began in 2015 when Hanwha Vision was one of the first video device manufacturers to open up application development to third parties. At the time, A.I. Tech was one of the few companies able to bring AI algorithmic capabilities to cameras. Of course, since then both AI and hardware (i.e. cameras) have developed significantly, so end-users can achieve more through embedded, AI-based applications on each camera. It’s exciting because companies can now solve problems that were impossible to solve only a few years ago — like the combination of Hanwha Vision’s thermal cameras with our AI-INTRUSION app. This provides advanced intrusion detection with much fewer false alarms.

Hanwha Vision and A.I. Tech are trusted partners and that’s why most customers can buy most of our applications directly through Hanwha Vision. We appreciate the high reliability of Hanwha Vision’s cameras and the constant development being done to advance the hardware. 

Is there a new product or solution that you’re excited about?

One of society’s greatest challenges right now is optimising energy and building a more sustainable world. This is driving the development of a new solution from A.I. Tech for smart lighting that can adaptively change lighting levels based on objects detected passing through an area, on roads, and in different visibility. For example, it could automatically increase light levels in response to fog and wet road conditions.

Have you noticed a growing use of AI and analytics alongside video technology?

Some experts have stated that, prior to 2017, AI was almost “prehistoric”, and if you see how deep-learning AI is developing in the video sector, you will instantly understand why. It is transforming how video is used across organisations, for example people-counting in crowds within seconds, compared to the hours it would take a person to manually count. Applying AI in this way, to support and expedite human decision-making opens the door to numerous other opportunities in team and operational efficiency and unlocks insights from a vast array of data.