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.
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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.