Social Impact Tech: Daniel Eborall of IREX On How Their Technology Will Make An Important Positive Impact
Recognition and reputation. Being involved with technology which can impact society is a monumental challenge, always be sure you would want to be associated with the impacts your technology will be bringing.
In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniel Eborall.
Daniel is one of the world leading experts in AI Video Security Deployments, advising governments around the world in implementing the ethical use of AI. Daniel became one of the first graduates in the world to attain an MBA with Emphasis in Security Management. Daniel is a UK citizen but primarily resides in the USA where he sits on technology boards and councils, helping shape the future when it comes to AI and surveillance.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?
I am originally from Sheffield, which is an old steel city in the North of England. Growing up I was obsessed with Football (Soccer), having my Dad as one of my first coaches — he was influential in developing me as an athlete.
I left school at 16 but Sheffield has a very high unemployment rate and at the time was really affected by the global recession at the time — which led me to leaving the U.K. as a teenager after being awarded a Soccer Scholarship to the USA. This move really defined my life.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I grew up in Hillsborough, Sheffield — where the local stadium was unfortunately the scene of Britain’s worst sporting disaster, 96 lives were lost. Fast-forward to when I stopped playing soccer and living in the USA. The city I was living in (Hattiesburg, Mississippi) had the globally-leading National Center for Spectator Sports Safety & Security research center.
It seemed like it was fate to take this step, as growing up in Hillsborough you learn about the disaster so much. As one door closed, another opened.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I had a pre-contract agreement with a soccer team in Boston, even though deep down I had just not recovered properly from ankle surgery, Football (soccer) was still all I thought I knew. The offer was ultimately rescinded and my life went a completely different way — I entered the Business School at University of Southern Mississippi.
Then I was introduced to a man called Lou Marciani. Lou is kinda like the godfather of stadium security in the USA. He saw something in me and took a chance on me to start working at his research center in 2015.
Lou then ultimately sponsored my education through the security research center. I achieved an MBA with emphasis in security management. This led me to being in charge of some of the biggest sporting events and stadiums in the world at a really young age.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“In life you don’t get what you want, you get what you are” — I think we all have some sort of greatness inside of us but often it’s in a way we wouldn’t have thought it would be. I’m a big believer in if one door closes on you, it means a bigger door is meant to open for you.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
First, it sounds so simple but it’s hard-work. You have to be willing to out-work your competitors. This started with football/soccer. I took it as a failure on my behalf if I was not one of the fittest players in the squad, because it takes zero talent, just hard-work.
Don’t be married to your ideas and strategies, allow yourself to be humble and adaptable. The chances of creating a perfect end-to-end strategy is extremely low, but it can get you on the right path and be an enlightening experience to understand that actually “I need to go a little this way now instead of straight ahead” — etc.
And thirdly it would be to back yourself. You never learn if you aren’t willing to fail. So be able to take the failures, get knocked down 6 times but always believe in yourself to get back up 7 times.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive social impact on our society. To begin, what problems are you aiming to solve?
I’m in an extremely blessed position right now, to be bringing to the world this technology, which is having a revolutionary impact on society.
Often AI and surveillance can have lots of negative connotations to it, especially in media, how it’s portrayed to society. So combining Artificial Intelligence into surveillance has brought unique challenges. When you’re bringing innovative technologies, there aren’t any learner manuals or case-study on how it’s been implemented successfully before — you are learning in real-time.
Now we’re seeing the previous skepticism in public’s opinion change massively towards not only towards CCTV in public places, but the use of AI to help combat issues such as mass shootings, missing children, finding human trafficking victims and much more.
The ability to save lives within communities has seen a monumental shift to not only accepting the technology but actively advocating for it to be implemented in their states, cities and towns.
How do you think your technology can address this?
Let’s use missing people/ missing children for an example. Right now there is a human and child trafficking epidemic around the world. Just last month 50 children went missing in Cleveland, Ohio alone! That’s 50 children missing from just one city, in one state, in one country.
Now having the technology to set up databases of missing children/ people into cameras equipped with AI can provide families with a lot of solace when it comes to trying to find a loved one. Often Law Enforcement has only allocated resources to look for the person within the first 72 hours, after that the success rate in finding a person diminishes dramatically.
So having cameras which never sleep and perform better accuracy rates than humans in detecting people under surveillance is a game-changer. Even 80% of eye-witness accounts are incorrect due to the emotional side to humans, especially when everyone wants to try and help find a missing person — AI changes this.
In crisis situations you have the ability to upload a photo of a missing person/child to see if and when they ever appeared under surveillance — this is unprecedented levels of data available for the first responders.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
With great technology comes enormous responsibility. Ensuring this will benefit society is paramount. In 2019, I realized how monumental this type of technology was going to be, so the question becomes “How can this technology benefit society the most?” — This is where I started connecting with the global leaders from missing children organizations and anti-human trafficking task forces. Learning from their operations and experience showcased to me how vital this type of technology is and how much the world needs it.
In recent years we have released many collaborations with organizations providing the missing children databases, to the response teams who are equipped after the AI has matched a person who appears under surveillance. We’ve hosted multiple events and webinars, hearing from the thought-leaders in the space and those that have rescued hundreds of children to bring awareness to this huge societal issue — you can see here a webinar from last year: The Fight Against Human Trafficking
How do you think this might change the world?
The ability to have Artificial Intelligence “eyes” which never rest, never sleep and are constantly working to make societies safer is something immensely beneficial for the world.
We can now simply upload a photo of a missing person, specific vehicle or event and the AI will not only show you if/when this has happened, but it will also show you the route on interactive maps of where the person/ vehicle was traveling — bringing a whole new level of situational awareness.
The most beautiful aspect of the technology can be reuniting families with loved ones. Recently I’ve helped launch the “International Missing Children Coalition” — forming an end-to-end solution to help locate, find and respond to the appearance of a missing person, with AI surveillance such as IREX.ai at the front and center of the process.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
Ensuring transparency to those using AI is key. That’s why at IREX we’re “transparent by design” — meaning all users of IREX can be audited for every action they’ve taken on the platform. Societies shouldn’t be afraid of AI as long as there are checks and balances in place for those using the technology.
Educating the public not only what the technology can do, but how it works is crucial to the new world of AI upon us. I’ve delved into this topic on numerous occasions, including having conversations at length with leading psychologists — there’s a podcast style conversation here discussing The Psychological Shift of Using AI in Security.
Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”?
- Finding correlation between a societal problem and your technology as the solution. Railways, metros and undergrounds have a big problem with people being on the tracks to oncoming trains. IREX recognised this issue and has now equipped thousands of cameras around the world to trigger alerts for if and when someone appears on the tracks. This has led to so many success stories and rescues.
- Minimal impact on society. An example is having metal detectors at bars or restaurants etc — it ruins the vibe, although adding a safety element, it negatively affects the experience. You want to implement solutions which have little to zero effect on people’s day-to-day lives.
- Learn from community leaders. Involving community leaders will enable you for success in setting your technology up in a way that will provide tangible results.
- Provide tangible results. There needs to be a yardstick to measure how successful or unsuccessful the adoption of the technology has had on society. You need to have statistics to show the value, even if it takes 1–2 years.
- Recognition and reputation. Being involved with technology which can impact society is a monumental challenge, always be sure you would want to be associated with the impacts your technology will be bringing.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
I think the true measure of a life lived is how much positive impact you can bring to the world — I truly believe the world runs on acts of kindness. There’s a good quote saying “If you can be anything in this world, be kind” — so use this as the foundation in business and it will have ripple effects to our environments and societies.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I’d say Jordan Peterson — with this new AI revolution upon us, I would be really intrigued to brainstorm with him on how we can continue to shape and sustain positive societal impacts with the implementation of AI such as IREX.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can find my LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-eborall-mba-18ba1b1a5/
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.
Social Impact Tech: Daniel Eborall of IREX On How Their Technology Will Make An Important Positive… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.