Andy Trench
As AI technology rapidly evolves, we’re approaching a pivotal shift in security: moving from reactive responses to predictive prevention. While current AI systems can provide real-time analysis of security situations, the next frontier lies in predicting and preventing incidents before they occur.
Current Limitations
Today’s security professionals largely react to events as they unfold, relying on experience and real-time data. Even with advanced AI-powered systems providing immediate alerts for incidents like gunshots or trespassing, we’re still operating in a reactive model. By the time these systems alert us, the event is already in progress.
The Shift to Predictive Security
The emergence of generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) opens new possibilities for understanding and predicting human behavior. These models, trained on vast amounts of human behavioral data, can potentially interpret emotions and intent, not just identify objects or actions. Instead of simply detecting a person or a weapon, future systems could recognize emotional states like “agitated,” “angry,” or “nervous,” providing crucial context for potential threats.
How It Could Work
Predictive AI could analyze existing CCTV feeds and other sensor data, extracting context from pixels and extrapolating likely scenarios. By considering scene context and utilizing powerful reasoning capabilities, these systems could alert security personnel to potentially harmful events before they occur. This proactive approach could revolutionize security measures, potentially saving lives and preventing property loss.
Key Challenges
Compute Power: Analyzing continuous feeds from thousands of cameras requires significant computing resources. Potential solutions include edge computing, AI on-chip, and in-camera processing to bring computational power closer to the source.
Trust and Reliability: False positives can create doubt and complacency. Building trust requires:
Transparency in AI reasoning
The issue of “false positives” could be addressed by involving humans in the early stages of the system’s development and providing transparency to any models reasoning and references while forming a result.
Constantly training the models over time with a human-in-the-loop approach that continuously trains and improves the system will help both inject real human feedback and generate trust as the humans engage in the growth of the system and see the evolution of its accuracy. A larger AI model in an “AI Agent Manager” role will eventually understand context more deeply and make decisions before alert spam becomes an issue.
Data Availability: Training effective models requires extensive, ethically sourced data on target behaviors. Solutions may include:
- Leveraging existing LLM knowledge of human behavior
- Generating synthetic data to fill gaps
- Focusing on specific, high-priority scenarios
Timeline and Implementation
This shift isn’t years away – we could see significant advancements in predictive security AI within months. While we won’t be preventing crimes days in advance, shaving seconds or minutes off response times could make crucial differences in emergency situations.
Impact on Security Professionals
The role of security professionals will evolve as these technologies emerge. Rather than replacing human judgment, AI will enhance it, providing additional context and foresight for more effective decision-making.
Looking Ahead
As we navigate this transition, the focus must remain on responsible development and deployment. The potential benefits – preventing violence, protecting property, and saving lives – make this technological advancement not just exciting, but essential.
We stand at the threshold of a paradigm shift in security technology. While challenges exist, the path to predictive security is becoming clearer. Those who successfully implement these solutions may not only revolutionize the industry but also fundamentally change how we approach security in the modern world.
About the author
Andy Trench is a visionary, entrepreneur, and technology evangelist. Andy has spent the last 20 years as an entrepreneur on the cutting edge of emerging technology, AI-driven data collection, and critical infrastructure solutions. With his deep technical expertise, combined with a creative background from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), positions him uniquely to disrupt, innovate, and impact industries at the intersection of hardware, software, and data analytics, from project inception to product deployment.