{"id":4357,"date":"2022-01-19T18:15:05","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T18:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/19\/ambients-computer-vision-detects-dangerous-behaviors-but-raises-privacy-concerns\/"},"modified":"2022-01-19T18:15:05","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T18:15:05","slug":"ambients-computer-vision-detects-dangerous-behaviors-but-raises-privacy-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/19\/ambients-computer-vision-detects-dangerous-behaviors-but-raises-privacy-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambient’s computer vision detects dangerous behaviors, but raises privacy concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Computer vision, a technology that uses algorithms to \u201csee\u201d and evaluate objects, people, and events in the real world, is a rapidly expanding market within the broader AI sector. That\u2019s because the applications are practically limitless, ranging from agricultural crop monitoring to medical diagnostics and driverless vehicle testing. Allied Market Research anticipates<\/a> that computer vision product vendors will be worth a combined $144.46 billion by 2028.<\/p>\n

Digital transformation in the enterprise, spurred by the pandemic, has further accelerated the growth. For example, Zebra Medical Vision, a computer vision startup focused on health care, was acquired<\/a> in August 2021 in a deal worth $200 million. Meanwhile, Landing AI has secured<\/a> tens of millions for its visual inspection dashboards that enable engineers to train, test, and deploy computer vision to devices such as laptops.<\/p>\n

Another rising class of startups \u2014 one focused on analyzing camera and sensor footage \u2014 is attracting significant investment from institutional backers. Ambient is among the newest arrivals \u2014 its computer vision software attempts to detect potentially dangerous situations to alert stakeholder. Launched in 2017, the Palo Alto, California-based company is emerging from stealth with $52 million in venture capital led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Y Combinator, Stanford, and others.<\/p>\n

Computer vision for security<\/h2>\n

Ambient was cofounded by CEO Shikhar Shrestha, who was previously at Google helping the Project Tango<\/a> team. Vikesh Khanna, the company\u2019s CTO and other cofounder, worked at Dropbox building data analytics systems.<\/p>\n

Ambient grew out of research Shrestha and Khanna did while at Stanford. Powered by what Shrestha calls a \u201ccontext graph,\u201d the platform plugs into CCTV and sensor systems and assesses risk factors when looking at real-time or historical recordings \u2014 namely different location contexts (e.g., the type of space and time of day), behaviors (the movement of an object and object interactions), and objects (people, vehicles, animals, and more).<\/p>\n

\u201cI founded Ambientin January 2017 alongside Khanna. However, the inspiration for Ambient came many years before,\u201d Shrestha told VentureBeat via email. \u201cAt 12 years old, I was robbed at gunpoint in a location that was monitored by a security camera. At the time, I was expecting a patrol officer to intervene, which never happened. From that experience, I learned that despite the ubiquity of security cameras in our world, few recordings of incidents lead to real-time response. It made me fascinated with security technology, tinkering with, designing, and building alarm and surveillance systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

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