On 7 October, i-PRO will host a webinar that promises to redefine how the security industry thinks about generative AI (GenAI). Ahead of the event, Benchmark secured exclusive insights from i-PRO leaders Philippe and Hiroshi, who shared how the company is preparing to roll out AI capabilities that balance cutting-edge innovation with ethical responsibility.
For many organisations, the biggest hurdle in adopting AI is the perceived complexity and cost of upgrading systems. Philippe explained that i-PRO has deliberately focused on seamless integration.
“We manage to implement Generative AI in a way that customers don’t need to change their cameras or their system,” he told Benchmark. “A small update can make them start with the iAG server, and in combination with the X-Series and i-PRO Relay app, we can even make non-AI cameras work with GenAI.”
This approach gives security teams a way to trial advanced tools without the disruption of a full-scale infrastructure replacement.
Ethics front and centre
The conversation around GenAI inevitably raises questions about responsible use. Philippe acknowledged that customers often voice concerns about how search functionality could be misused.
“The biggest concern is about ethical AI,” he said. “With free text search, you could search for anything – like ‘origin’ or ‘skin colour’. For this purpose, we are applying moderation so that this type of search is not allowed. If it happens, the operator will receive a message clearly stating that the search is not ethical.”
This principle of active moderation demonstrates how i-PRO is building safeguards into its platforms, ensuring that operational efficiency never comes at the expense of ethical responsibility.
Trust as the foundation
For Hiroshi, the difference in i-PRO’s approach to generative AI can be summed up in one word: trust. “TRUST is always our top priority and makes us different,” he told Benchmark.
That difference is evident in the company’s governance and oversight structures. In mid-2024, i-PRO launched an AI Ethics Committee and published its own Ethical Principles for AI. By May 2025, it became the first security camera manufacturer to achieve ISO/IEC 42001 certification – the international standard for AI management systems covering ethics, transparency, and accountability.
Crucially, i-PRO has embedded privacy-by-design into its architecture. By running AI primarily at the edge, the need to transfer sensitive video to the cloud is minimised. Features such as real-time privacy masking and anonymisation operate by default, helping organisations stay aligned with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
In a sector where many manufacturers still rely on cloud-heavy AI and lack formalised ethical frameworks, this approach sets i-PRO apart. As Hiroshi put it: “We want our AI solutions to be not only smart, but also safe, fair, and trustworthy.”
Moving from reactive to proactive
The promise of generative AI is often framed in terms of transformation – shifting security from reactive response to proactive management. Hiroshi was quick to emphasise that this requires more than just algorithms. “AI is a tool, and its effectiveness depends on how clearly its outputs are defined and operationalised.”
To meet this challenge, i-PRO is integrating edge-based AI with a unified, scalable architecture. Central to this is Active Guard, a plugin that aggregates all AI outputs into a single interface across leading VMS platforms. Operators can access alerts and metadata within their existing workflows, trigger automated responses, and link seamlessly to access control and analytics systems.
This “one pane of glass” approach reduces complexity, streamlines operations, and brings security teams closer to truly proactive security.
Both Philippe and Hiroshi see the next five years as pivotal for generative AI in security. “The next five years will see generative AI become a foundational layer in security operations,” Hiroshi concluded. “Not just as a tool for automation, but as a strategic enabler of smarter, more proactive, and scalable surveillance.”
The road ahead
Generative AI is still at the early stages of its journey in the security sector, but its trajectory is clear. As Philippe and Hiroshi both highlighted, the next wave of adoption is likely to come from labour-intensive environments such as public transport, hospitals, and stadiums, where automation and efficiency can deliver immediate value.
The technology is also moving closer to natural language interfaces, allowing operators to interact with systems conversationally rather than through complex filters or menus. Combined with predictive and context-aware analytics, this promises a shift from simply reacting to incidents towards anticipating and preventing them.
For Benchmark readers, the key takeaway is that GenAI is not a distant concept but an emerging operational tool. Its ability to automate routine tasks, streamline forensics, and reduce cognitive load will become increasingly central to surveillance strategies in the years ahead.
You can register for the webinar following this link: https://lp.i-pro.com/2025-Webinar-AIInSecurity.html