Case study: Keeping cities safe with AI

It’s a widely known fact that our society is watched more closely these days than ever. However, being observed goes beyond cameras –smart spaces in our cities now include sensors, cyber networks, and the monitoring of communications, exchanges and transactions.

However, with so much information being available from so many sources, how can we track and monitor it in real-time to proactively prevent criminal acts?

A Europe-wide research initiative led by BU’s Professor of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Zoheir Sabeur is using AI to create truly smart cities, where CCTV – and other tools – can be used to keep people safe.

That idea is for smart cities to develop ‘digital twins’ where all the various sensing and monitoring equipment in a small area can be considered as a whole with the support of AI.

Zoheir gives football stadium security as a simple example. “In a stadium that holds more than 30,000 people, there are just a few guards looking at feeds from dozens of cameras. How can anyone be sure they are looking in the right place at the right time?”

It’s into that space that solutions like S4AllCities arrive. “By using AI to assess crowd behaviour, it can draw the attention of the security operatives to one particular area where problems are likely to happen – whether it is crowd violence, emergency exits being blocked, or something else completely,” explains Zoheir. “S4All Cities is about combining that physical analysis with communications, cyber attacks, transactions –everything we can measure, using AI to tell us where there may be a risk.”

Zoheir describes artificial intelligence working alongside human interpretation as augmented intelligence. “The work is not about removing humans from the equation,” he says. “They are experts and will always make the final decisions. However, we can augment their support with AI in order for them to focus only on the important tasks.”

“The aim is to revolutionise the way we protect our cities and their infrastructures,” says Zoheir. “The answer doesn’t lie in more security forces, or surveillance, but in smarter use of the security forces and surveillance we already have. The answer is the kind of augmented intelligence that S4AllCities is working towards.”