Paul Allen, President of Airship AI, was recently interviewed by Benzinga.
Airship AI is a cutting-edge, artificial intelligence-driven video, sensor and data management surveillance platform. Customers rely on its services to provide actionable intelligence in real-time –- collected from a wide range of deployed sensors and utilizing the latest in edge and cloud-based analytics. These capabilities improve public safety and operational efficiency for both public sector and commercial clients.
The company has recently reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to provide its Outpost AI service.
Airship AI is a cutting-edge, artificial intelligence-driven video, sensor and data management surveillance platform. Customers rely on its services to provide actionable intelligence in real-time –- collected from a wide range of deployed sensors and utilizing the latest in edge and cloud-based analytics. These capabilities improve public safety and operational efficiency for both public sector and commercial clients.
The company has recently reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to provide its Outpost AI service.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome, Binziga Nation.
00:04Something that we love to do here is to talk to executives from publicly traded companies
00:07and get your questions answered.
00:09And today we've got Paul Allen, who's the president of Airship AI, ticker on the NASDAQ
00:13is AISP.
00:14Paul, welcome to the show.
00:16Thank you, Zinay.
00:18Great to be here.
00:19You know, I love the view that you have, and I want the folks to know that it's not just
00:22a green screen.
00:23You're actually outside.
00:25You're in Whitefish, Montana, which is currently the location of your company's investor day.
00:29So, you know, congrats on the success and what you're going to talk about there.
00:32Before we get into the big news that you dropped this morning, give me quick insight on what
00:36is it that your company does.
00:38Absolutely.
00:39So we're a AI based data video sensor management platform.
00:43So we basically take everything from cameras, sensors, IOT devices at the edge.
00:48We bring all of that data into a central data repository, we clear it, and then we push
00:52it back out to users and, you know, ultimately with the goal of helping them make decisions
00:56in real time based on whatever their industry or vertical is.
01:00And you know, AI is so many different things you can use it for.
01:03You got to be able to digest the data, the raw data, and simplify it to terms that you're
01:06able to kind of utilize it for your purpose.
01:08I love that you said that from the get go.
01:10Now let's talk about the big news.
01:11You went ahead and announced you have a 2.35 million sole source contract awarded within
01:17the Department of Justice.
01:18Give us a little bit of insight on what that means for the company.
01:21Yeah, no, look, it's huge.
01:23I think in several different ways, you know, in part, it's validation of a lot of the work
01:27that we've been doing over the past years.
01:29And really, this is a lot of the setup to becoming a public company that, you know,
01:33we've got a really robust pipeline that we entered the year with, you know, just a little
01:36over 140 million.
01:37And a lot of these opportunities within that are these large federal customers where we've
01:42been doing a variety of different pilot projects and things, not just on our back end software
01:47platform Acropolis, but our edge outpost AI to box.
01:50And that's really what we've been working on the last few years, getting that edge inference
01:54engine technology to a point where we can help enable our agencies and our customers
01:58to take that unstructured data at the edge, you know, video, one of the most challenging
02:03data sets to work with and extract value out of that and really try to help create efficiency,
02:08not just in their operations, but potentially in investigations and things of that nature,
02:12where they don't only have to have a lot of people sitting and staring at the screens,
02:17but they can actually ensure that they don't miss things that the human may not even be
02:21able to pick up, you know, out of a data set.
02:23Yeah.
02:24I mean, I remember when I first learned what nanoseconds were, right?
02:28That's how important it is to have the best technology at our disposal.
02:31Now, this is a news that you dropped recently, but there are a lot of different highlights
02:34and you've been busy, especially since the IPO in December of 2023.
02:38Tell me about what's been going on in terms of what success you've had outside of just
02:42the announcement of the 2.35 million sole source contract.
02:46No, absolutely.
02:47So, you know, we've seen some great expansion within the international space.
02:51We had a large award that we won in Singapore with some similar requirements around homeland
02:56security that, you know, we're very confident and excited about.
02:59We were just over in Singapore for Middle East Asia talking with their homeland security
03:04group and a lot of other interested customers in the region.
03:07You know, the challenges that's going on around the world are not unique to the U.S. and,
03:12you know, just even looking at things that we've got going on on the southern border.
03:15You look at Israel, you look at Ukraine, you look at, you know, almost, you know, any
03:19region around the world.
03:21There are a lot of challenges that folks are facing and, you know, ultimately with the
03:25goal of trying to keep the residents and their constituents safe.
03:29And we're really at that intersection of trying to help enable that safety and whether it
03:34again is here, whether it's global, whether it's law enforcement, federal agencies, or,
03:39you know, whether it's commercial and retail and organized crime, you know, school safety
03:44and keeping employees safe at the workplace.
03:46You know, video and some of the different mediums that we work with and where we're
03:50trying to apply AI to, you know, create efficiency and, you know, do predictive analysis of events
03:56potentially before they come.
03:57You know, these are interesting things to, you know, almost any vertical that's out there.
04:01And I'm so glad you mentioned that because I feel like whenever people think of AI, they
04:04think of, hey, how can businesses get leaner and make more money?
04:08But there are also use cases where you can help possibly save a human life.
04:11So I like that you brought that aspect of it up.
04:13Help me understand the difference between your suite of products, right?
04:16You've got Acropolis, Command, and Outpost.
04:19What use cases can they be applied to, right?
04:22Like what's the technology, the underpins of all of them, but also what kind of ties
04:26them together?
04:27No, no, it's a great question.
04:28So if you look at really kind of our core and our legacy products, you know, it's that
04:32backend management platform.
04:34So in our portfolio, that's Acropolis.
04:36And really Acropolis is really the traffic cop for all of the data coming into our platform.
04:40So whether it's an edge sensor that we've deployed, which is our Outpost AI box, whether
04:45it's just a dumb camera at the edge, whether it's an IoT sensor, an audio device, and we're
04:50really agnostic to any of those different types of devices, all of that's coming into
04:54Acropolis.
04:55And Acropolis is where our permissions are set, you know, who's allowed to log in and
04:59look at video or data, who's allowed to use it, what can they do with it?
05:03So it's really that clearinghouse that allows us when we bring everything in to manage it
05:07and partition it and permission it properly.
05:10So if I look from there, I've got to get that out to them, my users.
05:14Once I brought it in, I've managed it, you know, potentially done some additional analysis
05:18or structuring against it.
05:20And that's where our command platform comes in.
05:22So this is everything from a client that might run on a desktop computer.
05:27It could be a web client that runs on a laptop or a tablet, or it could be our client that
05:31runs on an iPhone or an Android.
05:33And really the goal is really whatever your source of data is out at the edge, we're going
05:37to help you get that in and structure it and analyze it in real time, help get you
05:42efficiency in your operations.
05:44We're going to ensure only that the right people or people need to see that.
05:48And then we're going to get it out to whoever actually needs to get it, you know, with again,
05:52near in real time, minimal latency.
05:54You know, we've heard of the big three in the NBA, but it seems like you've got your
05:57own big three within Airship.
05:59Let's talk about money.
06:01What is a revenue model?
06:02Do you operate as a SaaS provider?
06:05Nope.
06:06So we do a little bit of both.
06:07So we sell customers perpetual licenses that they can install on premise, operate in a
06:12hybrid environment or in the cloud, and they can manage it and they can own it and everything
06:17runs in perpetuity.
06:18Or we can set up a SaaS model where we can deploy everything in the cloud for the customer,
06:23manage everything for them, and create some efficiency where either from an IT perspective
06:28or an operational perspective, they really want to be more hands off.
06:31They don't want to be involved in the day to day.
06:33They just want to know that the data that's coming in is being managed and analyzed and
06:37structured and they're getting the outputs out of it that they need.
06:40So we really feel excited about the opportunities that we have in front of us in terms of being
06:45able to support both customer sets.
06:47And now we talked about, you know, the news in the morning, but I do want to go to the
06:51contract with the government of Singapore.
06:54Give me some details on that.
06:56And more importantly, how is this going to be a trampoline for growth when it comes to
07:00Airship?
07:01No, absolutely.
07:02You know, go back to the points we were just talking about, that the challenges and the
07:06opportunities that we're working on here, you know, within our own, let's say, Homeland
07:10Security and Department of Justice, they're partnering with nations around the world to
07:14try to help solve common challenges.
07:16You know, the things that happen here in the U.S. are not unique and they don't exist in
07:20a vacuum.
07:21You know, challenges and problems arise overseas.
07:25Things can, you know, export from the U.S. to other places.
07:28So that interaction at the national, federal level, whether it's Department of Defense
07:33or Ministries of Defense, et cetera, all of that comes together.
07:37And as these customers are talking about best of breed solutions that allow them to solve
07:42problems, whether it's here, Singapore, other countries around the world, just like in other
07:47verticals and industries, people talk.
07:50And when they see a best of breed solution and they find something that they really like,
07:54they want to talk to their partners about it and share that.
07:56And that's really where our opportunities come out of, quite honestly, where our customers
08:02in many cases are our best sales force because they're talking to their other partnered nations
08:06and agencies.
08:07And, hey, this is something that's helped us solve some problems.
08:10We think this could be useful.
08:12Happy to make an introduction, you know, because it benefits everybody to solve these common
08:16challenges.
08:17And is everything that you kind of mentioned in terms of the highlights, the contracts,
08:19the Singapore government relationship as well, is that why you're forecasting not one, not
08:24two, but triple-digit revenue growth in 2024?
08:26Like what's really driving this here?
08:28No, absolutely.
08:29So really that kind of comes back to that pipeline and talking about, you know, taking
08:32these last few years, building out our edge appliance, Outpost AI, you know, getting some
08:37custom models that we really think help solve some challenges that are out there, getting
08:41in the front of some of these customers that we know that we've got these challenges, building
08:45this pipeline with all of these different pilot opportunities.
08:48And really that award that we just announced this morning is a reflection of that, where
08:52Now we've not only taken our Acropolis platform, we've got it up into the cloud, in this case
08:56in the government space, in the FedRAMP high cloud.
08:59And then now once the back end is set and they're ready to start ingesting that data
09:03from the edge, now providing them our edge appliance so that they can take it and structure
09:08it and just create that additional efficiency.
09:10So when we look across all of these different efforts that we've been working on, regardless
09:15of whether it's here domestically or, you know, Singapore and some of our international
09:18efforts, all of these things coming together is what's built that pipeline and what's put
09:23us in that position, you know, to forecast 100% triple digit year-over-year growth, be
09:29cashflow positive and have a great outlook for this year, you know, as well as for 2025
09:33and 2026.
09:34When it comes to AI, there are so many changes that are happening rapidly, right?
09:38I think at GPT, we went from kind of trying to know what complicated math problems answers
09:42were to now being able to output videos with instructions as well.
09:46How much more advanced can surveillance really become within the space of AI here, right?
09:51How quickly is that tech in your industry changing?
09:54Look, I mean, it's rapidly changing.
09:57And you know, the thing about AI is, is AI can mean a lot of things to a lot of different
10:00people and it's such a, it's a broadly used term, but you know, there's generative AI,
10:05there's large language models, there's large action models, there's edge inference engines.
10:10So really, it really comes down to how are you going to use AI to help solve problem
10:14sets?
10:15So where we're really focused are these edge inference engines where, you know, we're putting
10:18this work on this small platform out at the edge, we're processing everything out at the
10:22edge.
10:23And we're again, trying to create that efficiency for our customers to potentially identify
10:27things that might've been missed by the human eye and reduce the number of human eyes that
10:31have got to be staring at screens to ensure that they have their best chance to see things.
10:35So AI for us is really a technology enabler, and it's helping create that efficiency, reduction
10:42in costs and expense.
10:44So we're very much focused on that edge inference engine piece, but then also looking at how
10:49do I take generative AI, for example, so instead of going in and having eight filters to search
10:54for a vehicle, what type of vehicle it was, what color the vehicle was, what was the license
10:59plate number, just being able to go in and type, Hey, show me every white Ford Bronco
11:03that you've seen in the last 24 hours.
11:06That's where we're taking things like generative AI and applying it against what we can do
11:09out at the edge with our inference engines.
11:12So while our customers are trying to figure out what AI means to them, we're also trying
11:16to figure out how we can use AI to go solve their problems.
11:19So keeping up with what technology is doing is challenging for us as it is our customers,
11:25but we've got an amazing team spread across here.
11:29Our headquarters is out in Redmond, Washington.
11:31So we've got just a phenomenal group of developers that are keeping the rest of us on track with
11:39what's going on.
11:40And I can totally relate to that, right?
11:41Because here at Benzinga, we want to deliver news the fastest, but also with best accuracy.
11:46So you got to have that fine balance as well.
11:48Look, we talked about the past.
11:50We talked about the present with your relationship with Singapore and also the contract I dropped
11:53this morning.
11:55Let's talk about the future.
11:56Final question.
11:57What's next on the horizon in this space?
11:59Yeah, no, great question.
12:00So obviously we're here.
12:01We've got our investor day starting this evening and it'll run all day tomorrow.
12:06We've had over 60 different customers from across DHS, DOJ, and some other state and
12:12local partners, just showing them the latest in everything that we're doing in terms of
12:16not only what our backend can do, but sensor fusion and all the exciting stuff that we're
12:20working on.
12:21So not only did we come into the year with this strong pipeline, but even this week we
12:25were working on developing out a lot of opportunities and that's going to be that future growth
12:30in 25 and 26.
12:32So we're excited about how do we take our platform, make it more efficient at the edge?
12:36How do we add more models?
12:37How do we create more efficiency on the backend and really just deliver a solution to our
12:41customers to solve some problems that they're just struggling to find other capabilities
12:47to solve for?
12:48Well, look, I really enjoy this conversation.
12:49I appreciate you taking the time.
12:51I've got a green screen.
12:52You my friend do not.
12:53You are out there in Whitefish, Montana, the location of your company's investor day event.
12:57Best of luck.
12:58We're looking forward to seeing what comes out from there.
12:59Yep.
13:00Zunay, thank you very much.
13:01Thanks for your time.
13:02You got it.
13:03That is Paul Allen, who is the president of Airship AI, ticker on the NASDAQ is AISP.