Artificial Intelligence in Queensland’s public pools keeping swimmers safe

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Artificial intelligence is now being used at a Queensland public pool to help keep swimmers safe. It's the first time the technology has been used in the state.

Transcript

00:00As the weather heats up, Australians are hitting the beach and their local pools.

00:08Lifeguards performed nearly 8,000 rescues at public pools last year.

00:12In the 12 months to June, 323 people died in waterways around the country.

00:19That alarming statistic has prompted a public pool at Logan, south of Brisbane, to trial

00:24AI technology.

00:25It helps shorten that time window and get that life-saving response to the person in

00:30theory quicker.

00:31The pool will be monitored by cameras, which then send an alert to a smartwatch worn by

00:37a lifeguard if the AI software picks up signs of someone in distress.

00:42It's hoped it'll prevent tragedies like the drowning of a three-year-old girl at a council

00:47pool in 2016.

00:49Witnesses said that they saw her with her parents only moments before she entered the

00:54water.

00:55Without technology like this, it could have saved her life.

00:59While the cameras are already keeping swimmers here at this pool in Logan safe, the developer

01:04behind the technology says it could soon be rolling out to more locations across Queensland.

01:10It's a tool for lifeguards, it's not replacing lifeguards.

01:12It could even one day be available for backyard pools.

01:16We need to refine our system, we need to make sure that it does the job that we need it

01:20to do right now.

01:21But where it's headed, it is amazing.

01:24Heading towards safer pools.

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