Two Taser acquisitions create new ‘Axon AI’ group, boosting effort to analyze vast police video data

Axon, the Seattle maker of a cloud-based network and body cameras for law enforcement agencies, is adding artificial intelligence to its arsenal of tools to improve public safety.

Taser International, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based parent company of Axon, announced Thursday that it was making two acquisitions in order to launch a new group called “Axon AI.” Seattle — and Axon’s much-celebrated office — will be the epicenter for a team of nearly 20 researchers and engineers working for the group.

Taser acquired Dextro Inc., a computer vision and deep-learning system that makes the visual contents in a video searchable in real time. According to a Taser news release, the technology will give law enforcement “the ability to quickly isolate and analyze the most important seconds of footage from massive amounts of video data.”