About the Client
Veritone is a pioneering AI technology company in the US, renowned for its aiWARE platform - an artificial intelligence ecosystem serving sectors such as media, legal, security, and government.
Specifically, Veritone Redact is an application developed for law enforcement agencies, courts, and legal departments. It assists in removing sensitive information from video, audio, and images to ensure security, legal compliance, and support investigative processes.
The Challenge
Before Redact, police officers and investigators in the US had to manually blur video and audio footage.
- They had to obscure faces, license plates, or mute sensitive audio segments frame-by-frame, which was incredibly time-consuming.
- Manual processing was prone to errors, especially with long videos containing numerous small details.
- With privacy regulations becoming increasingly strict, missing even a single detail could lead to compliance violations.
- The required tool needed to be intuitive and user-friendly for police officers and investigators - users who are not necessarily technology experts.
- The volume of footage from body cameras, patrol car dashcams, and CCTV is constantly increasing, making manual processing unmanageable.
Therefore, they needed a solution that was more automated, accurate, and reliable to rapidly process all sensitive content.
SETA Solution
SETA developed the interface and intelligent redaction features for the Veritone Redact application - a tool that blurs faces, license plates, and sensitive content in videos, while also supporting audio redaction based on transcripts. The goal was to ensure the tool was easy for investigators to use while being powerful enough to handle complex requirements.
Combining AI and Manual Editing for Video:
- Auto Detected Polys (ADP): The system uses AI to automatically recognize and suggest redaction for objects such as faces and people.
- User Defined Regions (UDR): Provides robust tools for users to manually draw, track, and blur objects missed by AI (license plates, documents, etc.) with advanced features like "Live Tracking."
Innovative Audio Redaction Method:
- Instead of listening and cutting manually, the system automatically generates a transcript of the conversation. Users simply highlight the text they wish to hide, and the system automatically mutes the corresponding audio segment in the video.
Legally Compliant Output: Upon completion, users can download a zip file containing:
- The redacted video/audio file (MP3/MP4).
- A "chain of custody" audit log (CSV): Records every user action in detail (who, did what, when), ensuring transparency and legal validity for evidence.
- The redacted transcript.
Business Impact
Through the development and optimization of Redact, SETA helped Veritone deliver clear value to their clients:
- Real-world Deployment: Redact is currently being used by California police departments such as Chula Vista, Pasadena, and Anaheim.
- Accelerated Processing: Automatic AI detection combined with an intuitive interface significantly reduces manual redaction time.
- Privacy and Compliance: Redact obscures sensitive information more accurately and provides comprehensive audit logs to meet "chain of custody" requirements.
- Optimized Agency Collaboration: Supports unified file uploading, processing, and sharing, helping units work faster and more transparently.
- Sustainable Business Model for Veritone: Offered via a subscription model on AWS Marketplace, facilitating service expansion and stable growth for Veritone.
