There’s a new ambition for artificial intelligence: to be able to identify weapons.

What’s happening:

  • Artificial intelligence anti-terrorism startup ZeroEyes has raised $53M USD in a Series B financing round
  • The round was led by Sorenson Capital and also included notable participation from Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC)

The big idea:

  • ZeroEyes has built proprietary artificial intelligence screening technology to rapidly be able to detect weapons being brandished by human beings in public spaces
  • ZeroEyes video analytics technology is capable of being seamlessly integrated into existing security cameras

Why it matters:

  • Defense tech startups have been on the rise, with notable recent rounds led by prominent venture capital funds such as a16z and Sequoia Capital

By the numbers:

  • The artificial intelligence technology built by ZeroEyes has been trained on over 1M unique images of firearms
  • Once a weapon is identified, it takes ZeroEyes 5 seconds or less to alert first responders
  • ZeroEyes is currently being used in security cameras in 42 States across the United States of America

Going deeper:

  • The United States Department of Homeland Security previously recognized ZeroEyes’s technology as a promising anti-terrorism technology for its ability to rapidly identify weapons and alert first responders in the area