What is “Visual AI,” and is it different from intelligent video?
You may have seen the terms “intelligent video” and “Visual AI” used interchangeably. A more accurate way to frame the two concepts: Visual AI enables the experiences we call intelligent video. The result is a system that can automatically track and frame a presenter in a room based on facial and motion detection — which is incredibly important when a meeting includes remote participants. You want those virtual attendees to see the gestures and expressions of those in the room where the meeting is based. Remote workers remain much more engaged when they can receive all those non-verbal cues.
Crestron’s Rony Sebok, director of product management, intelligent video, explained the power of this technology in an article for the online publication AI for All:
Visual AI can be used to create a variety of experiences, including “group framing” (adjusting the frame to show all participants), “auto-framing” (adjusting the frame as one person speaks), and “presenter tracking” (following a moving presenter around a space). It can further automatically switch between active talkers in the room (“speaker tracking”), provide a composite of more than one view of the room into a single video feed, and more.
Just like other examples of AI, Visual AI is getting better. “AI has been built into unified communications for a while now, but even more effective ‘robot director in a box’ solutions are being developed,” says Crestron’s Senior Director of Product Marketing Sam Kennedy. AI is being applied to audio solutions, too, gaining the ability to block extraneous noise and even identify people by their voices.
Soon, AI will help these systems “read the room” — in other words, gather a lot more info on the space. “These programs are learning to see if a room has a whiteboard and how the system’s cameras need to adjust to make that board visible for everyone joining remotely,” says Kennedy. “Soon, AI will notice if that board — or even the room itself — needs to be cleaned up for the next meeting.”
These systems will soon be able to gather more environmental info, says Kennedy: “Do the shades need to come down for a presentation? Does the room need to be cooled better when the system senses that the space is full of people?” Ultimately, AI impacts both the remote and the in-room experience.