More frightening than the virus is the panic that it causes. “A mixture of miscalibrated emotion and limited knowledge,” argues psychologist David DeSteno in an editorial for The New York Times. We’ve seen panic buying and other forms of irrational behavior worldwide, leading to shortages and slow decision-making.
In part, this panic is driven by a significant increase in demand for information and a relative lack of credible data to meet the demand. Like all supply-demand curves, audiences are turning their attention to more spurious sources, compounding the issue for authorities and bodies making decisions.
Many people seem to opt to ignore these rules. On Monday, the 30th of March, a large crowd gathered in New York to watch the US Navy hospital ship “Comfort,” which was arriving to aid the city with the ongoing threat of coronavirus. Similarly, in Australia, large crowds of backpackers took to the Beaches, sharing public showers and changing rooms, ignoring the Government's recommendations to stay at home and practice Social Distancing.
One of the main challenges right now is panic-buyers spreading the coronavirus as they queue up in stores.
Acquiring real-time, actionable data about where people are, their distance from one another, and their movements is a topic that our democratic societies 12 weeks ago would consider an unacceptable infringement on civil liberties.
Unleash live during Covid.
In China, the application of computer vision has taken a darker, more draconian path. However, in our liberal Western societies, we have a choice in how we apply this technology to help protect ourselves and our families from the virus while also maintaining the principles by which we live our lives.
At Unleash live, we choose to exclude all personally identified information, we choose only to store metadata, and we choose to turn down business opportunities when prospective customers ask us for facial recognition.
By applying machine learning to visual data, there are many real-world challenges today that we can help overcome.
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Provide authorities and the general public with credible data, validating whether Social Distancing is being adhered to.
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Provide real-time data on the presence of a queue or mass gatherings of people in hot spots ( say, outside a grocery store).
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Provide a fast overview of the total number of people in hotspot areas.
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Extrapolate trends and assess the effectiveness of response measures.
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Correlate to other data, like weather, traffic, etc.
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And most importantly, get fast insights when putting cities back on a path to normality. Monitoring the effectiveness and adequacy of measures while getting people back into the cities, commuting, and
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Enjoying public spaces
Unleash live's social distancing AI model
Unleash live turns regular cameras, such as street cameras, drones, and mobile phones, into smart devices that understand what is being filmed. Our AI monitors the movement of people and determines how close together they are and whether they are too close, and alerts the City and Police where crowds are not complying with the Social Distancing requirements, all done anonymously and without collecting any PID.
Specifically, in reference to COVID-19, we have authorities using crowd-density A.I. models to provide real-time alerts when social distancing guidelines are not being adhered to, such as crowds forming, people movement, and so on.
This information is delivered straight to an email or phone, fed into a connected dashboard, or sent in a notification alert to recommend direct actions: with Unleash live, the authorities' role is adapted from an observer to an action taker.
We have strong partners, including AWS, Nvidia, and Esri, who are all ready to support our fast and cost-effective implementation during this time of crisis.
To learn more about how we can help your city, organization, or business, contact us for a demonstration. As you can appreciate, data is sensitive, so we are limited in what we can publicly share.
Get Started with Unleash live
Visit unleashlive.com to learn more, or book a time with one of our specialist team members to learn how your business can take advantage of live-streaming video and A.I. analytics.
