Hong Kong start-up Wildfaces uses AI to spot potential suicide attempts and fights in prisons
- The system compares and analyses patterns of behaviour via camera images automatically, without human involvement, such as suspicious inmate gatherings
Hong Kong start-up Wildfaces Technology is looking to ward off suicide attempts and violence in prisons with the help of artificial intelligence, as the government and private enterprises in the city step up use of AI to build smart city infrastructure.
Using AI-powered cameras, Wildfaces has developed a video analytics system for the city’s Correctional Services Department to detect suspicious behaviour among large numbers of inmates, including self-harm and fighting.
A general lack of data on these kinds of behaviour prompted Wildfaces to steer away from deep learning and turn to rule-based behavioural analytics to detect signs of potentially negative behaviour, according to Ivy Li, the company’s founder and executive director.
The system compares and analyses suspicious patterns of behaviour via camera images automatically and without human involvement, such as gatherings of inmates or if a prisoner is standing next to windows with a rope or hitting their head against a wall. In such cases, the system will alert physical officers to the danger and they can make an intervention.
More than 40 cameras with the AI system were installed in February in Pik Uk Prison, a minimum security prison in Hong Kong’s Sai Kung district, as part of a “smart prison” project and more cameras are expected to be rolled out to other institutions soon.
