Old cameras had one job: see something, ring an alarm, wake up a human.
Now they're starting to think for themselves.
On a factory line today, a camera can spot a cracked part, decide how serious it is, and stop the machine, before anyone reads the alert.
Two things changed.
First, the chips. AI models that used to need a data center now run inside a small box next to the camera. No cloud. No delay. Your images never leave the building.
Second, cameras learned language. Before, they could only say "person detected." Now they can say "someone left a bag near the exit."
That's the real jump. From seeing to understanding.
And it only works if the model is small enough to live on the device, which is exactly what I work on every day.