The coronavirus pandemic has led to severe economic challenges and increased competition in the job market, leading to a 30 percent increase in suicides among 20- to 30-year-olds in South Korea. The country has about 500 suicide attempts each year on 26 bridges over the 500-kilometer-long Han River.
The Seoul metropolitan government is using artificial intelligence on CCTV cameras along the river to handle the situation.
How does it work? The Seoul Institute of Technology, the inventor of the technology, answered the question on Wednesday that the AI system they have been building since April 2020 is learning to analyze human behavior by verifying data from cameras, sensors and rescue service records.
Kim Jun-Chul, the lead researcher on the invention team, said the AI could then predict a dangerous situation based on a few hours of CCTV footage and assessment of the person’s behavior, according to Reuters.
The head of the research team added that the system itself learned the footage. This can greatly reduce the number of false alarms and give better results.
“We believe the new CCTV will help us identify our crew cases a little faster and respond more quickly,” Kim Hyung-gil, in charge of the Yeodo Water Rescue Brigade, told Reuters while watching real-time footage from a bridge over the Han River in Seoul.
Kim’s team is working with researchers on the technology. The Seoul Fire and Disaster Headquarters will operate the technology from October in the form of a pilot project.
With this technology, it can be assumed whether the young woman in the summer dress is simply appreciating the scenic beauty outside the bridge, or the tendency of suicide is working in her mind.
