Home security is expected to be a $47.5 billion business by 2020. Top-of-the-line systems can include alarms, cameras, dogs, guards and even secret passageways. But even the most sophisticated systems can have a fundamental flaw: human error.
Now, security companies are hoping to harness the potential of artificial intelligence to better safeguard homes.
Expert say there are risks to using A.I., including concerns about privacy, the collection of personal data and racial sensitivity and bias, but security companies are promising better service at lower prices. Artificial intelligence, they say, can see more things faster than systems that rely on humans, who may not be paying attention.
“We put in the cameras to create a perimeter with no dead zones,” said Ken Young, chief executive of Edgeworth Security, a consulting firm in Pittsburgh that offers monitoring solutions.
To protect a property, these systems use technology like geofencing, facial recognition and A.I.-enabled cameras to help identify intruders. If someone breaks that boundary, the cameras will alert a command center. If someone loiters too long at a call box at the entrance to an estate, the system sends an alert to the monitoring center, which responds with a tailored warning, like “You in the blue shirt, please leave.”
Mr. Young said the system uses artificial intelligence to tell the difference between movement into and out of a property, but it also uses facial recognition technology to distinguish regular visitors — like gardeners or delivery people — from strangers.
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