Big Brother...

Scientists at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a prototype surveillance camera and computer system to analyze the camera images and deliver a text feed describing what the camera is seeing. The new system aims to make searching vast amounts of video much more efficient.

"The system was developed by Professor Song-Chun Zhu and colleagues Haifeng Gong and Benjamin Yao, in collaboration with the company ObjectVideo, of Reston Virginia in the US. Dubbed I2T for Image to Text, the system runs video frames through a series of vision algorithms to produce a textual summary of the contents of the frames. The text can then be indexed and stored in a database that can be searched using a simple text search. The system has been successfully demonstrated on surveillance footage."

Implications of this tech needs no embellishment. Database nation will now become surveillance nation enhanced by AI and Semantics. For in depth info on this tech, click here. No doubt other benefits gained from this research is in the offing (science, medicine et al) but the slippery slope awaits in harnessing this most powerful technology for a clearly stated purpose of spying on us. (Will work on the battlefield as well once the image net learns what's going on in the field of battle.)

"Something wicked this way comes." - Act IV, Scene I - Macbeth