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Abu Dhabi-based Neurovia AI is pitching Saudi security agencies software it says can compress video files by up to 95%, lowering the cost and processing demands of the vast camera networks used to keep Islam’s holiest cities safe for pilgrims and residents.
The company developed an algorithm that shrinks videos to keep data on its clients’ systems, including air-gapped networks. The smaller files move faster through separate AI systems, allowing security staff to detect fights, weapons, or other threats within “milliseconds,” Neurovia CEO Khalifa Mohammed Alshehhi said in an interview in Riyadh.
Neurovia — which was acquired by Nasdaq-listed Robo.ai in a $100 million all-stock deal in June — plans to introduce its new software to the Saudi market this week at LEAP, the tech and AI conference and exhibition in Riyadh. It’s been speaking to government entities and companies but has yet to secure a Saudi contract. “We would really love to have Mecca and Medina,” Alshehhi said, adding that the military, border control, and the police are also potential clients.
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Winning access to some of Saudi Arabia’s most sensitive video networks would be a difficult sell for any foreign company, and especially one from Abu Dhabi. Riyadh has been pressing businesses that serve the kingdom from the UAE to move to the kingdom, and strains between the two countries have surfaced in border delays and refused visas.
Those tensions have eased over the summer. Senior officials from both countries have emphasized “brotherly relations,” in a sign that the disputes between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh over Yemen, Sudan, and economic competition aren’t in the same league as their shared security threat from Iran.
Neurovia’s answer to concerns over foreign access is that it never holds the footage and can set up systems where data never leaves the kingdom. “If we put a proof of concept in one government sector in Saudi Arabia,” Alshehhi said, “it will boom.” In a demonstration at LEAP, a live camera fed original and compressed streams onto adjacent screens, allowing buyers to compare the clarity; it was difficult, nearly impossible, for most visitors to tell them apart. Many spectators leaned into the screens to examine the resolutions that seemed nearly identical.