The AI technology will be free for use by schools and other organizations
SAN JOSE, Calif. and DENVER, Dec. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In a momentous effort to reduce the impact of gun violence in the United States, AI company Iterate.ai has announced the open-sourcing of its Threat Awareness technology.
Iterate.ai's Threat Awareness technology detects guns, knives, kevlar vests and masks using existing cameras. The AI technology, along with a phone app and dashboard, can be used for free by schools, churches, synagogues, dance studios, concert venues, or any organization trying to add another layer of protection for employees, students, and guests.
"It's extremely important for us to be a part of the solution in the ongoing fight to end gun violence in the United States. By open-sourcing this technology, we are enabling organizations to implement this technology free of charge so they can better protect people inside and outside their buildings, especially schools," shares Iterate.ai CEO Jon Nordmark.
There have been 39 mass murders in the U.S. since the start of 2023, a number that breaks the record for most mass killings from guns in a single year in the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Over 800 children ages zero to 11 have been killed or injured alone as a result of gun violence.
The AI was originally developed to protect store associates in convenience stores which have more than 20,000 violent incidents per year, including armed robberies. Out of a total of 675,715 violent crimes represented by National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data, 20,108 incidents occurred at C-stores in 2020, and 11,795 occurred at gas stations.
After developing the Threat Awareness technology, the Iterate.ai team realized that it could be deployed in schools, churches and other areas that have been and are targeted for mass shootings.
"After developing the Threat Awareness technology, we quickly understood that it should be offered to schools and other organizations, so we tested it for many months and now are finally ready to open source it. This gives schools, companies, religious centers or any other organization the ability to develop a strategy for addressing threats on their premises and supplement existing protocols with an additional layer of security. Awareness is key, and this key is now available for free for the public to use," shares Brian Sathianathan, Co-Founder and CTO.
The technology was trained by Iterate.aI engineers by exposing the AI to 63 live guns and more than 22,000 videos of armed robberies and other incidents. As a result, a threat can be detected in real-time and automatically notify authorized personnel. This gives organizations and schools life-saving minutes to lock down and alert law enforcement.
As an Open Source project, developers and designers are invited to continue updating the technologies and graphics, which can allow the technology to become more sophisticated over time.
"We are open sourcing this technology because we believe that people have the right to feel safe when they go to school, church, or to the grocery store. Gun violence is a terrible reality in the United States, but it is also a preventable one. With the Threat Awareness technology being available for anyone to use, we hope to increase the security and safety of places we frequent," Nordmark explains.
Iterate's Threat Awareness technology is a step in the right direction at reducing gun violence in the United States.
"Comprehensive gun reform is necessary to reduce gun violence. Our technology is one piece of the puzzle to make our communities safer. We encourage people to spread the word that this technology is available to use right now to add eyes in the sky to detect weapons and alert people to potential threats," Nordmark states.
Please visit GitHub for more information.
Iterate.ai is at the forefront of empowering businesses with state-of-the-art AI tools and technologies. Its platform is cloud-agnostic, and it can run AI on the edge and in secure private environments. With four patents granted and nearly a dozen more pending, Iterate's platform offers corporate innovators a low-risk, systematic way to scale in-house, near-term digital innovation initiatives.
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SOURCE Iterate.ai
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