Ten reasons why small businesses need AI cameras

AI cameras are getting cheaper every day. They used to cost tens of thousands yesteryears. But in the last years prices have come down from thousands to hundreds. In the foreseeable future, what costs 500 today will cost 50 in a few years. This opens up a new market for small businesses to acquire them but what problems would AI cameras solve for them? Here is a list of ten problems, AI cameras can bring innovation solutions for:

Reducing Shoplifting

Not only can images be proof of a shoplifter haven stolen products, they can also be used to avoid shoplifting in the future. If a first-time shoplifter is caught, they might agree instead of the police being called to a 3 months probation period in which their face details are put on an amber shoplifter warning list. Each shop they enter will warn staff to be vigilant. If no further offences happen in three months, then they are automatically removed. If they steal again, then police will receive not only proof of the latest offence but also video proof of the previous offence. Shops can have red shoplifter warning lists which flag to security staff that known shoplifters are trying to enter the establishment.

Reducing Queues, waiting and sell more

Have multiple checkouts in a shop, but only one is open and a queue is forming? Why not send an alert to other staff that help is needed. A restaurant can measure waiting times before food is served or between meals. Cameras can also detect diners raising their hand and wanting attention and as such warn staff. A coffee shop can track how long different customers have stayed without consuming anything else and alert staff if somebody has been loitering to either ask them for another consumption or to leave. Waiting times can be automatically tracked in attraction parks.

Track productivity

How many cups of coffee brewed batista X vs. Y, burgers flipped, boxes filled,… If activities are repetitive and easy to recognise, then AI cameras can measure them and their frequency. Staff that gets productivity bonuses can see the value. The hardworking bee vs. the lazy coworker can be identified. HQ can see which shops are more productive and distribute knowledge about what works in very productive ones.

Detect and mitigate dangerous situations

Cameras don’t need a bathroom break and can be 24x7 on the look out for fire/smoke, water leakage, intruders [human or animal], customers/staff falling, people entering with weapons,… AI cameras can literately save lives.

Employee theft

Pointing a camera at the till is great but who is going to review thousands of hours of video? AI algorithms can.

GDPR compliance

If you don’t have a customer’s consent, you should not record a face. AI cameras can do this and make sure none of your stored video feeds contains faces of people that have not given explicit consent.

Fast GDPR consent

Let your customers or employees accept their face to be recognised by doing a simple thumbs up. GDPR consent can now be stored and used to for instance to allow them to have advantages, see some examples below.

Recognising customers and improving service

Once a customer has given GDPR consent, their service can be improved. A hotel receptionist can have access to customer details, past preferences, enquiries,… If you walk up to the night hotel desk staff, they can say: “Hi Mr Ectors, how was your visit to the museum today?”. All because in the morning you told the morning hotel desk staff you wanted to see a museum and asked them for suggestions and transport. With consent, the staff is able to use AI to make suggestions and pre-empt any thing you need. Knowing which customer is visiting can be helpful in many other ways, e.g. VIP recognition. Airlines can automatically give priority.

Age verification

A special type of improved service could be age verification. If the age and face have been linked previously and you give age verification consent, then automatically you would be able to get alcohol or vapes out of a vending machine, in the supermarket do a self-checkout without needing assistance when buying age restricted material, enter a nightclub or bar without having to show your driving license details,…

Members access, e.g. unlock gate

A gym can have 24x7 access to members without needing a person at the door or risking members passing their badge to others. The same for any building where a lost pass can be a security risk.

Next steps

Is your company investigating what can be possible with AI cameras, why don’t you reach out and after some quick experiment to proof feasibility, we can help you write a business case, define a technical solution, build a prototype and launch a solution or product.

If your company is selling hardware and needs help with use cases, developer adoption, monetisation after sales, … let’s talk as well.

We are validating if there is interest in an open source platform for AI cameras so businesses can easily get cameras and personalised AI camera apps, hardware manufacturers don’t need to worry about software, developers don’t need to worry about hardware and customers. If this idea sounds appealing, please join the waiting list.