Analytical AI, which was founded in 2018 and has been in Innovation Depot since January 2019, is garnering contracts and developing high-tech projects for government entities and hopes to eventually deploy its non-sensitive projects on the civilian market to provide additional income to continue growing the company.
CEO Mark Froehlich said he sees opportunity for this in mass transit, stadiums and airports.
Founder and CIO of Analytical AI, Thomas Anthony, said the most important things the company has done recently includes building trust and respect in the Homeland Security community and proving that cutting-edge innovation in AI does not exclusively come from Silicon Valley, Seattle or the Northeast.
"Talent is everywhere and coming from outside the sector we could tackle problems with a fresh perspective," Anthony said. "We also draw upon from our experience in the medical imaging domain and high performance computing that enables us to give effective near real-time AI solutions in the security space. An algorithm that detects weapons on a person or in a bag is not really effective or implementable if it takes a few minutes to process. This needs to be done in a couple of seconds, and that is where we excel.
"As we're looking to hire a number of employees and bring some good high-tech jobs to Birmingham, we are also trying to sell them (in) Birmingham."
The company got its start when some of the cofounders entered a competition run by TSA to improve the technology in body scanning machines used in airports.
Out of hundreds of teams, the cofounders placed third, which led to a meeting with a TSA chief scientist.
“We told him, ‘Look, we’re from Birmingham, Alabama, and we know that you buy all these solutions from the West Coast or the East Coast, and all we want is an opportunity,’” Froehlich said. “And he said, ‘I don’t care where are you from. I just want my problems solved.’ And so they started inviting us to industry days, and then we secured a contract with a company building the new CT machines that are going into airports for carry-on luggage.”
In recent projects, Analytical AI’s partner, Thruvision, received an acquisition award from U.S. Customs and Border Protection in November. The total awarded orders for the U.S. government fiscal year is about $14 million. All units sold through the award will use the Analytical AI’s Dynamic Detection Algorithm for rapid, automated screening. Analytical AI will receive a license fee for every unit sold.
The company is also working on a way for passengers who use wheelchairs to be able to be scanned in their chairs at airports rather than receiving a pat-down that Froehlich said can be invasive for passengers. It can also be expensive for airlines and airports which must hire additional staff to accommodate the task.
The company was recently awarded a new contract developing tech that detects soft targets, and Froehlich said there are more sensitive projects in the works that cannot be disclosed.
The many projects are garnering attention for the Magic City-based company, which translates into opportunity.
“We’ve had some of the really large defense contractors reach out and talk to us about teaming opportunities,” Froehlich said.
And though Froehlich said other areas might be more ideal to grow a company like Analytical AI, companies staying in Birmingham is vital to the city’s continued growth.
