ISE 2023 marks a new era of AI in AV

ChatGPT, the AI phenomenon that has taken the world by storm, has propelled artificial intelligence into the mainstream. It's no surprise that AI was the hot topic when the AV industry gathered at ISE in Barcelona, with participants eager to examine the potential applications of AI in video conferencing and witness game-changing innovations like Huddly Crew in action.

"This year's ISE was the biggest to date, with 58,000 visitors on the trade show floor – the perfect venue for the public debut of Huddly Crew, the world's first AI-directed multi-camera system. The interest was massive, with our team demonstrating this cutting-edge technology to more than 150 companies over the four days of the event," said Vebjørn Boge Nilssen, Head of Marketing at Huddly.

"We're also very grateful for the opportunity to exhibit together with our friends at Sharp/NEC. They're great people, and we make for a great bundle," Nilssen added.

Huddly's intelligent camera solutions were also on display at the booths of several other partners, including Shure, Barco, Crestron, and Google.

“In today’s flexible office environment, it’s challenging for IT managers and AV integrators to find the right solutions that enable teams to communicate efficiently. We work closely with Huddly to ensure our Stem Ecosystem devices work with Huddly cameras, enabling a full conferencing system, as we showed at ISE 2023”, said Chris Merrick, Senior Director, Conferencing, at Shure. “Huddly Crew will enhance the video experience while continuing to integrate seamlessly with Shure’s audio devices”.

Marcus Haraldsson Boij, technical enthusiast and manager at Informationsteknik Scandinavia, commented enthusiastically on Huddly Crew after receiving a live demo: "The Huddly Multi-Camera Experience, now named Huddly Crew, was mind-blowing. The AI-driven director creates a TV production with three or more Huddly L1 cameras, amazing!"

Participants at ISE were able to see the physical setup of the initial Huddly Crew kit – comprised of three Huddly L1 cameras – and experience how the built-in AI director enhances video meetings with professional production values inspired by TV and movies. The networked L1 cameras exchange information continuously, capturing visual and auditory data points that the AI director analyzes in real time to determine the best shot to display at any given time. By doing so, Huddly Crew creates optimal meeting dynamics and engagement throughout the whole session.

"With the launch of Huddly Crew and a fantastic array of demos lined up, we were particularly excited to return to ISE this year. Even though we announced Huddly Crew last year, we've never shown it live in action. This is an incredible system that has to be experienced to understand its true capabilities and potential", Nilssen at Huddly said.

"The response has been fantastic, which is a joy to see. We've worked hard towards this moment for more than three years. Throughout the development of Huddly Crew, our goal has been to design an innovative system that takes inclusion and engagement to the next level. The overwhelmingly positive response from our audience tells us we've hit the mark," Nilssen continued. "The market has been eagerly awaiting a game-changer in the world of video conferencing, and with Huddly Crew, we're proud to say that we're delivering on that promise. This is the beginning of a new era, and we're excited to be leading the charge!"

With the buzz surrounding Huddly Crew growing rapidly after the launch, Huddly is now gearing up for a large influx of new orders and is planning to make Huddly Crew available to customers by autumn this year.

"We believe Huddly Crew represents the future of the hybrid workplace. Hybrid collaboration is here to stay; we can't afford to waste time on static and lifeless video streams. By launching Huddly Crew, we want to contribute to increased productivity for the organizations that use the system and make the workday much more enjoyable for their employees. Now it's time to make sure those benefits are realized," Nilssen concluded.

Visit the Huddly Crew webpage to learn more and sign up to stay in the loop for the next round of live demos, such as at Enterprise Connect in Orlando (US), between March 27 and 30.