Manayunk company using artificial intelligence to monitor COVID-19 spread

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A company in Philadelphia's Manayunk section is getting nationwide attention for its building security program to help companies detect and trace potential COVID-19 cases.

Kognition was originally designed to prevent intruders and threats in the workplace.

But with thermal cameras and artificial intelligence, it's now being used by companies to screen for fevers, and it's added touchless entry and more.

"Now you walk up to the door, it detects your phone in your pocket, it does face recognition on you and the door opens," says Kognition CEO Matias Klein. "Some people want to do social distancing detection. Some people want to do mask and other PPE compliance detection, and we even have occupancy because we can count how many people are coming or going or in this particular area."

If a worker gets sick, data from facial recognition, security cameras, door sensors, and connected devices will be vital to contact tracing.

It can detail the worker's movements without compromising his or her privacy.

Klein says once a face is recognized, the AI system converts the name into a number and all documentation contains the number.

A variety of Fortune 500 companies have expressed interest in Kognition, which can be installed to interface with the company's existing CCTV system and badged entry doors.

He says one major food manufacturer has installed it to report potential fevers and systems in realtime, to make sure its essential operations aren't interrupted.