Traditionally, engineers spent months watching thousands of hours of CCTV footage to manually code defects. Today, programs like AiDetect from ITpipes can process that same data in a fraction of that time.
Formerly known as Assisted Inspection Coding, the tool combines AI-powered automation with expert human oversight. According to Ashley Stuart, marketing manager for ITpipes, it can cut review time by at least 50%, deliver 97% defect detection accuracy and provide instant, actionable results — all while seamlessly integrating into current systems and processes. Not only that, every inspection is reviewed by NASSCO-certified experts to ensure accuracy, quality and consistency.
“AiDetect is designed to support real-world inspection production rather than operate as a standalone or experimental AI tool,” she says. “What makes it unique is its human-in-the-loop approach, where artificial intelligence accelerates defect recognition and coding while experienced NASSCO-certified experts maintain full control over validation and final decisions. This ensures inspection results remain accurate, defensible and compliant with industry standards.”
AiDetect helps minimize variation between reviewers, delivering more consistent inspection data across teams, projects and time. Rather than focusing on automation alone, it is built to strengthen data quality and usability, allowing inspection results to directly support planning, prioritization and long-term asset management. It plays a key role in helping municipalities manage growing inspection demands with limited staffing and review capacity, as it is commonly applied within sanitary sewer and stormwater inspection programs, supporting condition assessment, backlog reduction and routine inspection cycles.
“The technology is flexible enough to support multiple use cases including post-cleaning verification, rehabilitation planning and programs that require faster inspection turnaround without sacrificing accuracy,” says Stuart. “Its greatest value is realized in environments where inspection data is relied upon by multiple stakeholders and must be delivered quickly and reliably to inform proactive maintenance and capital planning decisions.”
According to Stuart, development efforts focused on training AI models to recognize and classify common pipeline defects and observations from CCTV video while also designing workflows that support quality assurance and reviewer oversight.
“Users report faster inspection review turnaround and reduced fatigue, as the AI assists with repetitive identification tasks and allows expert reviewers to focus on validation and final coding outputs,” says Stuart. “Overall, customers describe AiDetect as a practical force multiplier that helps them manage higher inspection volumes without expanding staff, while maintaining the quality and reliability required for informed infrastructure decisions.”
505-355-6829; www.itpipes.com
