I’ve been in the security industry for a few years now. Of course, there has been the presence of artificial intelligence in solutions like video analytics for a while now. But my joining the industry happened just as the most recent jump in AI technology began. Now every new application seems to be AI-enabled or AI-powered or AI-enhanced.

In the video monitoring space, there’s no escaping AI’s influence. In our July Video Monitoring Today supplemental issue, we dive into the ways in which AI is empowering monitoring centers to be more proactive than reactive. “What AI is doing is allowing our operator’s time to be optimized,” Rob Bado, vice president of sales and marketing, Post Alarm, says. “With AI, our new approach is proactive. In preventative monitoring time is of the essence. The analytics play such a huge role in allowing our operators to really focus their objective on true events. It’s not a tree blowing in the wind. It’s not a delivery truck driving by. It’s not a false positive. When that operator receives that video, it is someone in a protected area that should not be there per the established protocols for each account.”

It’s a topic that The Monitoring Association (TMA) also covers in their column. One of the concerns about AI is that it will replace human operators. But rather than replacing operators, AI analytics are instead elevating their capabilities. Wes Usie, owner and president, Guardian Alarm Systems, and president, CHeKT Visual Security, emphasized that monitoring professionals now need to interpret data-rich alerts, make nuanced decisions, and communicate effectively with customers and authorities.

Usie noted, “Operators aren’t being replaced — they’re being upgraded. With AI handling basic detection, human staff can focus on high-value decisions and coordination.”

The primary way that operators are enabled by AI to be more efficient is by the increased ability for AI to determine what is a meaningful alert. In his column, Peter Giacalone, president, Giacalone Associates, says, “By leveraging artificial intelligence, systems that monitor personal wireless devices can detect and report humans that belong in an environment versus humans that are not expected to be present in a particular environment. This allows for differentiating between meaningful and inconsequential events when reporting to a remote monitoring center or sending a messaging or badge notification. … When integrated with remote video monitoring platforms and mobile applications, these tools enable the system to send alerts or alarms only when specific human presence is confirmed, reducing false positives and enabling focused, timely responses.”

ESA’s column, too, has AI as the primary focus. “Artificial intelligence (AI), once considered a very foreign concept, is seemingly everywhere now,” says Merlin Guilbeau, executive director & CEO, ESA. “AI adoption is increasing, and shows no signs of stopping. From virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa, to enhanced operational efficiencies across multiple industries, to autonomous vehicles, healthcare diagnostics, robotics and more, AI has established itself as an integral part of our everyday lives.”

In the wake of the most recent wave of AI advancement, I’m hopeful that the expert insight inside this supplement can help dealers and integrators navigate this rapidly changing security landscape.