102 VIEWPOINT New, intelligent video conferencing solutions are making the meeting experience more dynamic and immersive than ever before STEIN OVE ERIKSEN: HUDDLY Solving video meeting challenges with edge AI Artificial intelligence is one of humanity’s most incredible inventions, standing alongside the lightbulb as a moment of profound innovation that changes everything. Video conferencing, like many other technologies, will never be the same again. For a video meeting, this transformation is set to come from edge AI. This is intelligence built directly into the cameras, optimising the meeting experience for full engagement and productivity. But here’s the secret: while edge AI on a single camera delivers impressive results, the real step change happens when it powers a multi-camera system. This combination doesn’t just improve meetings, it transforms them, making them more dynamic and immersive than anything before. Edge AI, or ‘AI on the edge’, means the device handles all the data processing right on the camera, without sending it off to the cloud or an in-room computer. This makes everything faster and more responsive, while also keeping your data more secure since it stays on the device. This intelligence is powered by machine learning, specifically convolutional neural networks and object classification. This enables the camera to distinguish between people and objects like tables or laptops, while also understanding where people are, where they’re looking, and who’s speaking. In short, it turns cameras into intelligent sensors that react to what’s happening in the room. The result? Real-time adjustments, precise framing and video that naturally follows the conversation, enabled by technology that is both practical and affordable. There are four key challenges with video conferencing which we believe edge AI can help solve, bringing the technology to a turning point. The first of these is autonomously adapting video conferencing to the human experience. Humans are a social and collaborative species. When people come together, they figure things out. But in a hybrid world, recreating the energy of in-person interactions can be tricky, especially when technology gets in the way. Nothing disrupts the flow of a meeting quite like having to adjust your behaviour to meet the needs of the technology. Using the powerful capabilities of edge AI, our cameras see, understand and automatically adapt to how you naturally act and communicate. The best meeting experience is autonomous – participants should be able to just focus on the conversation, and let the technology do the rest. The second challenge edge AI enables us to overcome is enhancing engagement and productivity to match in-person meetings, which some people think won’t ever be achieved. But we believe the issue isn’t video – it’s that we’ve settled for an experience that’s barely good enough. If all you see is a static room view, it’s easy to tune out and stop “Using the capabilities of edge AI, our cameras see, understand and adapt”
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