After the Astroworld tragedy in 2021, crowd safety technology jumped to the top of every festival operator’s priority list. AI-powered crowd monitoring — using cameras and computer vision to detect dangerous density levels in real time — has been one of the most heavily marketed solutions. But does it actually work? And is it ready for Australian festivals?

I’ve been looking into this for the past year, talking to technology providers, festival operators, and crowd management specialists. The answer, as usual, is more nuanced than the marketing material suggests.

What the technology does

AI crowd monitoring systems use cameras positioned around a venue or festival site to analyse crowd density, flow patterns, and potential compression points in real time. The software uses computer vision — essentially teaching a computer to interpret what cameras see — to estimate the number of people per square metre in different zones.

When density reaches predetermined thresholds, the system alerts the operations team. Some more advanced systems can also detect unusual patterns of movement that might indicate a crowd surge or crush.

The theory is sound. Human observers can monitor a limited number of camera feeds and miss gradual density changes. An AI system can monitor every camera simultaneously and detect changes that human observers would miss. In a chaotic festival environment with multiple stages and fluid crowd movement, this kind of persistent automated monitoring has obvious value.

What’s working

The technology has proven effective in controlled environments. Sports stadiums with fixed infrastructure and predictable crowd patterns are getting good results. Major international events like the Hajj in Saudi Arabia have deployed AI crowd monitoring at massive scale.

A few Australian stadium operators have trialled the technology for concerts and sporting events, with generally positive feedback about the accuracy of density estimates and the usefulness of real-time alerts.

Firms focused on custom AI development have been working with event operators on pilot implementations, adapting the technology for the specific challenges of the Australian festival environment — outdoor settings, variable lighting, and temporary infrastructure.

The challenges for festivals

Outdoor festivals present unique difficulties for camera-based AI systems:

Variable conditions. Sunlight, dust, rain, and low-light conditions at night all affect camera performance and AI accuracy. A system that works perfectly at midday may struggle at dusk or in heavy rain.

Temporary infrastructure. Unlike a stadium with permanent camera positions, a festival site needs temporary mounting points that provide the right angles and coverage. Getting this right requires significant pre-event planning and investment.

Scale. A large festival site might be 50-100 hectares. Providing adequate camera coverage across an area that size is logistically complex and expensive.

False positives. Current AI systems can struggle to distinguish between dangerous density and benign density. A tightly packed but happy crowd at a headline set might trigger the same alerts as a genuinely dangerous crowd compression. Too many false positives, and operators start ignoring the alerts.

Privacy. Camera surveillance at public events raises legitimate privacy concerns, particularly if the system captures identifiable faces. Australian privacy law requires consideration of these issues, and festival-goers may have strong opinions about being monitored.

The human factor

The most important thing I’ve learned from talking to crowd safety experts is that AI monitoring is only as useful as the response it triggers. Having a system that tells you a dangerous situation is developing is meaningless if the operations team doesn’t have the tools, training, and authority to respond quickly.

This means AI crowd monitoring needs to be part of a broader crowd management strategy that includes trained personnel, clear communication channels, physical infrastructure like pressure-relief gates, and pre-planned response protocols.

The technology is not a substitute for experienced crowd management professionals. It’s a tool that enhances their capability. Any festival operator approaching AI crowd monitoring as a replacement for human expertise is misunderstanding both the technology and the risk.

My assessment

AI crowd monitoring is a genuine advancement in event safety technology, and it’s reaching a level of maturity where it can add real value at Australian festivals. But it’s not yet a plug-and-play solution. It requires significant investment, careful planning, and integration with existing safety operations.

For major festivals with the budget and operational capacity to implement it properly, it’s worth serious consideration. For smaller events, the cost-benefit equation is less clear, and investing in traditional crowd management training and infrastructure may deliver more safety value per dollar.

The technology will keep improving. The question is whether festival operators will implement it thoughtfully or treat it as a checkbox that absolves them of deeper engagement with crowd safety. Based on what I’ve seen, I’m cautiously optimistic.