By Riley Kaminer
It’s safe to say that when it comes to AI, Patrick Verdugo is an OG. During a nearly two decade-long stint at IBM, Verdugo was an IOT Solutions Architect on the Watson IoT development team. “That was the forerunner for most of the AI that you see in the marketplace today,” he told Refresh Miami.
Five years ago, he was tapped to join the 200+ person team at Miramar-based Claro Enterprise Solutions, becoming its Director of IoT Product Management. Over this period of time, he’s not just been riding the artificial intelligence wave – he’s actively been helping deploy it in ways that make our lives better.
Case in point: the company’s AI Video Analytics platform, one of the only solutions Certified by the Department of Homeland Security. “This allows you to take existing surveillance infrastructure and add intelligence to it,” summarized Verdugo. Once set up, the system enables schools, businesses, and more to thwart potential threats before they happen – all thanks to machine learning.
Take schools for example. After signing up with Claro, the school collaborates with Claro’s engineers to decide which cameras to link with the system. Claro then sets up its on-site, secure hardware that runs its proprietary software. This system actively monitors all designated cameras and can notify the proper authorities – even the police, when relevant – and can automatically lock down the school if it sees potential weapons. It can also watch the school’s perimeter to prevent unsavory characters from coming in.
“We can also do anonymous facial recognition – protecting our children without infringing privacy rights,” asserted Verdugo.
The applications for this technology span far and wide across industry, manufacturing facilities, airports, train stations, and much more. Claro’s system works both for live and recorded content. According to Verdugo, the AI can comb through 120 hours of recorded video to look for a person, object and/or vehicle and get results back within 2 seconds. Meanwhile, it typically takes a human upwards of two hours to do the same task for every single hour of video.
The Claro team launched the platform a bit over a year ago after having undergone substantial ML training to ensure accuracy. “Our algorithms have evolved in the last year almost tenfold in accuracy,” Verdugo said. “They really have gotten superb and have become another one of our differentiators.”
Verdugo underscored just how important it is for tech leaders like himself to stay on top of the AI landscape as it rapidly evolves. On top of his role at Claro, he is an MIT Professional Educator. “That lets me stay very much in touch with the latest technology,” he said.
“Just like in the ’90s, if you didn’t learn how to use a computer, and you didn’t have an internet website, you are going to be left behind – today, any company that doesn’t learn or apply AI to their data is going to be left behind.”
The same goes for employees. “I don’t think people will lose their jobs to AI,” Verdugo said. “But people will lose their jobs to people that know how to leverage and exploit AI. That’s the difference.”
“Now is a very exciting time. I think AI is key to companies’ future growth.”
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
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- Finally secures $10M to develop AI-powered small business bookkeeping platform
- Law enforcement veteran builds Broward-based public safety startup
