MESA, AZ — Imagine a security guard who doesn't need a lunch break or a bathroom break. That's the idea behind using artificial intelligence in schools, according to Iveda founder David Ly.
"It’s doing the work of what human beings can do, but we can’t do it all the time," stated the Mesa-based tech company CEO.
Tempe Preparatory Academy was the first school to partner with Iveda, back in 2018.
With students heading back to school in the charter school in just two weeks, the campus will be under the watchful eye of AI for the seventh year in a row.
"Really in the year when there was a lot of school shootings, one of the highest numbers up to that point, we were presented with that opportunity to have AI monitor our cameras that we already had on campus," according to Headmaster Dr. Wayne Porter.
The Iveda software is constantly evolving, under Ly and his team.
The software can identify weapons by sight, run license plates, and scan cars and faces, to detect people that have been banned from campus. It operates on camera and security systems already set up and working in schools, and the Mesa-based tech CEO says the company's software costs schools on average about $500 a month to utilize.
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While AI usage in school safety protocol has been increasing in Arizona and around the world, there has always been harsh criticism surrounding the ever-evolving technology and its place in society.
Ly says his message to those critiquing it, is always the same.
"You teach it, you provide the protocol. But most of the time in the real world, AI is put within your campus, within your control, your environment, and your home. So any security breach would be a leak that you had in the first place. It’s not the AI."
