How AI technology could help prevent gun violence

August 12th, 2022

Sales associate Alan Cobian fills out an invoice to finalize the sale of a rifle at Burbank Ammo & Guns in Burbank, Calif., Thursday, June 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

On the Friday edition of “Closer Look,” co-founders of technology company Iterate.ai Jon Nordmark and Brian Sathianathan discuss the development of threat awareness technology to help prevent gun violence in public spaces, businesses and schools.

The AI has been developed into a system capable of prompt monitoring and identification of weapons in public spaces. Using pre-existing cameras in these spaces, the technology can identify objects like guns in knives within milliseconds. The system has been trained to recognize “combative behavior” in addition to individual threat-prevention training of on-site staff facilitated by the company.

The co-founders say they ensure the ethical use of AI technology for threat awareness through the blurring of race and skin color in potential detection. The technology is currently being deployed in select schools and commercial spaces.

“A lot of places have security guards. It’s great the security guards [are] there and we all want them there, but that is not going to stop everything,” Nordmark said. “This technology won’t either, but certainly it will give one more layer of intelligence.”