Member Article

North East AI helps war on terror

Intelligent technology developed by a North East firm has been chosen by the Government to help combat terrorism.

Newcastle-based Generic AI has won a six-figure contract with the Home Office to develop its artificial intelligence to spot hostile situations in crowded places such as airports and railway stations.

The company was one of five chosen out of 50 which applied for funding to the Government’s INSTINCT (Innovative Science and Technology In Counter-Terrorism) programme, and the project will run until June 2010.

The system finds intelligent patterns and features without any pre-programmed bias and, as there are no rules, it cannot be circumvented by knowing how it works.

Rob Clennell, director of development at Generic AI, said: “The Generic AI system learns what looks normal over a period of time and then seeks to spot any abnormalities. If someone is hanging around a bin at an airport or behaving oddly it will give an alert to say the behaviour is suspicious.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say the applications for this technology are limitless. We’re also looking at using it in analysing baggage X-rays to locate suspicious objects.”

The team at Generic AI is also exploring other market sectors such as industrial inspection, the games industry and the detection of irregularities in financial transactions.

The contract arose after Generic AI pitched for funding at an investment conference held by networking organisation CONNECT North East in Sedgefield, in April.

Caroline Theobald, managing director of The Bridge Club Ltd, which manages the CONNECT North East project, said: “The conference was about more than simply investment – it was a place to meet the right people to develop ideas, projects and contacts for the future as Generic AI has shown.

“Their technology has the chance to help the country in its fight against terror as well as spotting any number of hostile situations in public spaces across the world.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .