Japan stations, facilities use AI system to prevent suicide by jumping

TOKYO – About 40 stations and commercial buildings in Japan have introduced an artificial intelligence system to prevent suicide that has helped save at least two people, according to its developer.

Tokyo-based Asilla created the system – which assesses the likelihood that individuals will leap to their deaths – by analysing behaviour captured by security cameras at stations and buildings, such as pacing or lingering near the edge of a station platform or rooftop.

Once the system detects such signs, it alerts the security guards and station staff, together with warnings issued through loudspeakers in some cases.

In one instance, the system detected a man loitering in an area at a commercial facility that customers do not enter, and a guard went to look for him.

The man later said he had intended to kill himself by jumping, according to the company.

In another case, a child was found lingering near a railing on the upper floor of a facility for a long time, and a security guard discovered the child had been writing a suicide note, the company said.

Asilla has worked with around 200 commercial facilities and other entities since 2022 to train the AI system on around seven million pieces of security camera footage, enabling it to detect not just signs of suicide, but also instances of illness and immobility as well as violence. KYODO NEWS