Speaking to Mint, Atul Rai, co-founder and CEO of Staqu Technologies, the company behind the AI-powered security system in Ayodhya, said, “There will be a high level of AI surveillance in Ayodhya for people with serious criminal records, including terrorism, murder, etc. For this, we’ve integrated the CCTV cameras, already installed in various parts of the city for purposes like traffic and community management, for efficient artificial intelligence-based city surveillance.”

CCTV cameras will cover the hotspots across the city such as Kanak Bhawan, Hanuman Garhi, Shri Nageshwar Nath Mandir, Ram Ki Paidi, and Ram Janmabhoomi.

The Indian tech startup is using its audio and video analytics software, Jarvis, to facilitate the use of AI to identify suspicious people and activities. The AI software will use facial recognition and reverse facial recognition, to identify objects and people based on general inputs.

“Reverse facial recognition will enable police to search for a particular person across the city using a photograph. The software would also allow them to search for a person or an object based on attributes entered in text form,” Rai said.

Director general, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar, said a pilot project of vigilance through artificial intelligence has been launched for security in Ayodhya. He explained that the AI-based CCTV surveillance system will help in detecting frequent visitors or any common trend followed by a group of people while visiting the temple premises, etc.

Through Staqu’s Trinetra software, which has enabled UP police to digitise criminal records, these AI-integrated cameras will have access to a database of 800,000 people with criminal backgrounds.

Commenting on the monitoring via AI-based CCTV, N. S. Nappinai, advocate, Supr-eme Court & founder, Cyber Saathi, said, “Even concerning the use of the CCTV camera, globally multiple jurisdictions have clear laws for protecting privacy whilst using CCTV cameras in public spaces. This is a lacunae in Indian law that needs to be addressed expeditiously.”

“When you combine the use of CCTV cameras with AI, that becomes the next step in terms of monitoring. If you are doing it with a legitimate aim of security then it ought to be done with effective checks and balances that will assure privacy is not violated,” Nappinai said.

She also highlighted that before the usage of such technology for governance purposes “the first step ought to be to put down certain guidelines, advisory or ideally laws of regulation to make sure that the technology is not going to be abused”

Underlining the need for transparency in data collection and access by a private entity in such projects, Nappinai said, “When it comes to the use of technology or public-private partnership for the same, transparency on the extent of data collected, access is given to the private entity or usage thereof. Without addressing these concerns, engagement of private entities may affect individual rights to protection of their data.”

Currently, the Gurgaon-based start-up Staqu is implementing the pilot project in Ayodhya as part of the expansion of its collaboration with UP Special Task Force (STF).

The pilot project utilised the 10,000-20,000 CCTV cameras already installed in the city, including those present inside the temple, Ram Janmabhoomi, and other parts of the city. Easy availability of CCTV cameras made integrating Jarvis for AI surveillance easier.

However, the various construction sites in the city posed several challenges for the company. “Ayodhya is in an inauguration mood, a lot has been done on the ground by various government departments. There were operational challenges in executing the project, but we managed all these things with the help of the police and the government,” said Rai.

HT’s Rohit Singh contributed to this story.

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Published: 15 Jan 2024, 11:55 PM IST