The American BRS Labs is a company few have heard of. But in one year, its turnover increased tenfold, to $200 million. It has new offices in Houston, Texas, São Paulo, Brazil and London, UK. The reason for the success of BRS –— which stands for Behavioural Recognition Systems — is a surveillance software called AISight.

This software is revolutionising surveillance at airports and railroad stations worldwide. AISight makes cameras smart. The software watches CCTV footage and can recognise “suspicious or abnormal behaviour” — whether it is somebody leaving a suitcase or getting out of a car where they shouldn’t, or climbing over a fence. As soon as the program spots the unusual behavior, it will sound an alarm. This means that a human is no longer necessary to monitor surveillance tapes — a dream for national security authorities.