Sunshine Week 2024 with OPEXUS: AI for FOIA Professionals

Summary:

Sunshine Week, founded by the American Society of News Editors, promotes transparency in government agencies.
Veritone and OPEXUS have partnered to utilize AI to address FOIA audio and video evidence processing challenges between our products.
The partnership aims to automate manual workflows for redaction, enabling FOIA professionals to meet deadlines and enhance transparency.

Since 2005, March 10th to the 16th has been known as “Sunshine Week.” Founded nearly twenty years ago by the American Society of News Editors, Sunshine Week has evolved into a broader campaign to promote transparency with government agencies. Managed by the Joseph L. Brechner FOI Project at the Univerity of Flordia College of Journalism and Communications, the mission centers on guaranteeing and empowering the public to be as informed as possible. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process is crucial to that mission.

In partnership with OPEXUS, Vertione will explore during the event the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to help increase transparency and reduce the burden on FOIA professionals to release these files quickly. Here’s a look at the topic and how OPEXUS and Veritone empower the people who process FOIA requests by transforming days of work to done in minutes.

Leveraging AI to Overcome the Challenges of Audio & Video Evidential Media

Over the last decade, key trends have been driving the tidal wave of audio and video files:

3.3 trillion hours of video surveillance footage was estimated to be captured daily in the US
IHS Markit estimated that 1 billion surveillance cameras would be installed worldwide
Use of internet conferencing tools like Zoom increased during the pandemic
Statista estimates that roughly 83% of the world’s population owns a smartphone
Nearly 50% of general law enforcement agencies in the US have acquired body-worn cameras, with seven states mandating their use

Each of these factors is a multiplier regarding the amount of evidence in audio and video that is now available as part of FOIA requests. That has left FOIA professionals buried in a critical backlog in meeting legal obligations and increasing transparency with the public.

As a result, we’ve partnered with Opexus to combine our two solutions, Opexus FOIAXpress and Veritone Redact, to help automate manual workflows for audio and video redaction. Through the power of AI, FOIA professionals can now meet critical public records request deadlines, build trust with the public through greater transparency, and reduce their backlogs. At the end of the day, streamlining and smoothing FOIA operations saves time, money, and resources while facilitating a healthier, more vibrant, transparent, and safe society.

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Sunshine Week 2024 with OPEXUS: AI for FOIA Professionals

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