Dmitry Sokolowski, CEO and Co-founder, of VOLT AI – Interview Series

Dmitry Sokolowski, CEO and Co-founder of VOLT AI, has led engineering teams at Facebook, Uber, Apple, and Amazon. He holds an M.S. in Computer Science from The George Washington University and a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland.

VOLT AI is a real-time video intelligence platform that transforms security cameras into proactive monitoring systems. It uses AI to detect threats such as weapons, medical emergencies, fights, and crowd formations, sending instant alerts and visualizing incidents on 3D facility maps. Designed for schools, enterprises, and public facilities, VOLT AI improves situational awareness and accelerates emergency response, helping organizations stay safer and more prepared.

You’ve held engineering roles at some of the world’s most influential tech companies—Facebook, Uber, Apple, and AWS. What made you leave that path to co-found VOLT AI, and how did those experiences shape your vision for the company?

My time at these companies gave me invaluable experience in how to build and scale complex systems that millions of people depend on every day. But what really pushed me to start VOLT AI was a personal moment: in 2018, my co-founder and I were just blocks away when a shooter opened fire at YouTube’s headquarters. That was a wake-up call that technology can and should do more to protect people in real life, not just connect them online.

We realized we could take everything we’d learned about tech innovation, scale, reliability, and AI from those companies and channel it into a platform built for public safety – helping schools, corporate environments, and communities respond faster and one day, prevent tragedies before they happen.

How did you and your co-founder initially approach building a solution for public safety using AI? What were some early challenges?

One of the first things we realized was how broken the traditional physical security model is. You can’t expect one guard to sit in front of hundreds of camera feeds and catch everything. It’s just not humanly possible. People get tired, they zone out, they miss things. And unfortunately, that means real threats go undetected.

That’s why we built VOLT with AI to do the heavy lifting – 24/7 scanning and flagging what matters in real-time, so security teams can stop being passive monitors and actually focus on responding in the moments that count.

One early challenge was tackling society’s hesitation around surveillance and data privacy. Parents, schools, and employees worry about being watched or having their personal data misused; and rightfully so. We tackled that head-on by designing our system not to collect personal identifiable information. We’re focused on behavior, suspicious objects, what’s happening in the environment, and whether it poses a risk. That’s been a key part of getting people comfortable with deploying the technology.

Why did you decide to focus VOLT AI’s efforts on schools and corporate offices rather than other types of public spaces?

Schools and workplaces are where people spend most of their time, and unfortunately, where risks have become all too common. These environments also have unique challenges: schools have to balance security with the need to build a safe learning environment for students, while offices need to protect both employees and visitors. We felt if we could solve safety in these settings, the lessons learned could extend to other environments over time.

For those unfamiliar with VOLT AI, how does your platform actually work in real-world deployments like school campuses or office buildings?

Our system integrates with existing camera infrastructure and applies AI in real time to detect threats, medical emergencies, or unsafe behavior. When the system identifies a potential issue, that incident is sent to a security professional in our center to validate. Once the AI identified activity is validated by our human-in-the-loop, the alert is escalated. The result is, security staff are aware of issues and respond in seconds, not minutes. The goal isn’t to replace humans, but to make their jobs more effective by giving them the right signal at the right time.

What distinguishes VOLT AI from other players in the AI surveillance space? Is it the tech itself, your response model, or something else?

A lot of surveillance solutions out there are either cost-prohibitive or require ripping out and replacing infrastructure. We wanted to flip that on its head – our system runs affordably on the cameras that buildings and facilities already have.

Second, we go beyond simple object recognition. Weapon and unattended bag identification is tablestakes. We’ve added a layer that notices risky behaviors like aggression, loitering, or unusual movement patterns. That behavioral context is what makes alerts smarter and responses faster.

Finally, every environment is different, so we built VOLT AI to be customizable. Schools, offices, or hospitals can decide what they want to track, how they want to be alerted, and tailor the system to their own needs. That flexibility, combined with affordability and behavioral intelligence, is what really sets us apart.

You recently announced a deployment with Loudoun County Public Schools. Can you share how that partnership came about and what impact it’s expected to have?

Loudoun is one of the most forward-thinking districts in the country. They were actively looking for ways to strengthen safety without overburdening staff, and our approach resonated. The deployment spans more than 100 campuses and is expected to give school staff faster situational awareness, reduce unnecessary emergency responses, and ultimately create a safer environment for 82,000+ students and 13,000 employees.

There’s growing scrutiny around surveillance and data privacy, especially in school environments. How is VOLT AI addressing these concerns in its product and policies?

We take privacy as seriously as safety. Our models analyze video streams without storing personally identifiable video unless explicitly required for an investigation. Second, we comply with regulations like FERPA, SAFETY Act, and GDPR where applicable. And third, we work closely with schools to ensure policies are transparent to parents, educators, and students. We believe technology only works when communities trust it.

What’s your long-term vision for VOLT AI? Do you see it expanding beyond physical threat detection into other safety or operational domains?

Yes. Today our focus is on threat and emergency detection, but the bigger opportunity is real-time awareness in shared spaces. That could mean detecting medical incidents, helping facilities teams respond faster to hazards, or even supporting large-scale event management.

Our vision also extends beyond detection to delivering dynamic, actionable information that helps people stay safe as situations evolve. The traditional “exit map on the back of the door” doesn’t work if the danger is right outside that door. AI-powered systems like ours will be able to synthesize insights from multiple streams and give schools and workplaces real-time guidance that adapts as conditions change. That’s where we see the real potential: technology that helps people make the safest choices in the moment.

Looking back at your journey so far, what’s been the most unexpected lesson you’ve learned building an AI company in such a sensitive and high-stakes space?

That trust is everything. Building the tech is hard, but building trust with schools, parents, employees, communities is even harder. Every decision we make, from the features we create to the language we use, has to reinforce that trust. It’s a lesson I knew in theory, and one that will continue to shape the way we grow the company.

Thank you for the great interview, readers who wish to learn more should visit VOLT AI.