Milestone Systems acquires brighter AI to boost video privacy
Milestone Systems announced the acquisition of brighter AI for undisclosed terms.
With headquarters in Berlin, brighter AI provides anonymization solutions for video data based on state-of-the-art deep learning technology to protect people’s identities in public.
Advancing AI With Privacy-First Solutions
The advances of artificial intelligence (AI) raise concerns around data privacy across the world. One of the biggest challenges in developing AI solutions is finding and accessing sufficient data that can be used. Without data, there are no AI models to train, which are essential for existing AI technologies such as ChatGPT and Copilot.
This challenge is particularly significant in video data, where it is even more difficult to find data that does not contain sensitive personal information. The solution lies within regulatory-compliant data and this is exactly what brighter AI’s anonymization technology brings.
The acquisition of brighter AI also opens up a range of new opportunities with anonymization capabilities and privacy enhancement, which protects data and enables full data privacy. The addition of brighter AI significantly strengthens Milestone’s offerings for video management software (VMS), video surveillance as a service (VSaaS) and video analytics, and fuels the company’s ongoing growth journey in and beyond security.
Additionally, brighter AI’s anonymization technology serves as a cornerstone of the recently announced data library and AI model training tool Project Hafnia.
Strengthening Responsible Technology Leadership
The privacy-by-design tool developed by brighter AI further solidifies Milestone’s position as a leading responsible technology company. Combining two European tech leaders with a focus on taking a responsible approach to AI development will be a significant contribution to making Europe the leader in the global AI and tech landscape. It is a testament to European innovation and strengthens the continent’s competitiveness while protecting individual citizen’s privacy, according to the announcement.
“brighter AI is a perfect match for Milestone. Their proven technology is top-notch and will give us a wider offering to existing and future technology partners and customers,” states Milestone Systems CEO Thomas Jensen. “The anonymization tool for video technology will also enhance our focus on responsible technology. Even more important, our two company cultures are highly compatible. Having known brighter AI for a while, as we have an established collaboration on Project Hafnia, I have complete faith that this will be a great benefit for all. I am indeed very pleased to welcome our new colleagues to Milestone.”
Founded in 2017 by Marian and Patrick Kern, brighter AI serves companies across various sectors and is the leading anonymization solution for video data based on AI. For the solution Deep Natural Anonymization, which automatically detects a personal identifier such as a face and generates a synthetic replacement, brighter AI was named “Europe’s Hottest AI Startup” by Nvidia.
“brighter AI was founded with the mission to make visual data usable in a privacy-preserving way. Joining Milestone Systems marks an exciting new chapter — together, we can scale that mission to a global level out of Europe,” says Marian Gläser. “Milestone’s leadership in responsible video technology and their vision with Project Hafnia align perfectly with our own values. We’re proud that our anonymization solutions will become a core pillar of a platform that’s set to redefine how compliant, high-quality video data is used to train AI. We’re ready to shape the future of visual AI — secure, ethical, and transformative.”
