Meet the Maker — Hannah Mercer
Hello! I’m Hannah, CEO and Founder of DragonflAI.
I started DragonflAI back in 2018, and at the time called it CensorPic, which I thought was a clever name as it pretty clearly stated what we did at the time — stopping pictures from being seen. Since then, we’ve been told that the idea of censoring images wouldn’t come across well, and have shifted what we do to prevent any indecent content from ever leaving devices, so we rebranded to DragonflAI, and have been focussing on how to best stop Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) from reaching the internet ever since.
Starting from the beginning — I was born in Swindon, and moved often with my dad being in the RAF, even spending a few years in Oman. Most recently I have settled in Edinburgh, where I started DragonflAI. Before that I went to the University of St Andrews where I got a MMaths in Statistics, and stayed in Scotland working as a data scientist before leaving to join the Police as a crime data analyst and modeler, which was one of the reasons I have focused on child protection with my company.
The idea for DragonflAI came about when I started looking more into machine learning, and became enamored with the idea of using it for something a bit more tangible than the Google gimmick of detecting what’s on your screen. From here, I was able to build a prototype that disabled the camera upon detection of nudity to prevent children from even creating indecent images, let alone sharing them. We have since shifted to deal with moderation and stopping nudity being shared on the internet but child protection has remained, and always will remain a core tenet of the company. My vision going forward for DragonflAI is to stop child abuse imagery from ever reaching the internet, even within end-to-end encryption, but that's just the beginning of making the internet a safer place for everyone.
It would be remiss of me if I neglected to mention that aside from my interest in creating a solution to the very real problem of online child abuse, I loved the idea of working for myself, and have always wanted to run my own company of some sort. I’ve always liked flexible working schedules, and having the chance to run a company where I could work the hours I wanted and even be able to answer emails while travelling abroad was a major appeal. Turns out running a startup means the hours I want to work are added to all the remaining hours in the week, and the emails and meetings never stop. But I’ve never regretted making the move!
On a more personal note, I have two dogs, two turtles, one tortoise, a snake, and a dozen fish, but who keeps track anyways?
Clearly, I have a real passion for animals, reptiles in particular, but one of my favourite pastimes is getting the dogs to smile and play dead on command (check out @dragonflai_tech on Instagram soon for some videos!). Aside from that, I enjoy getting out and enjoying the few Scottish days that actually have nice weather, and always like hiking and mountain biking with the dogs, cooking a new meal I’ve never tried, then watching a good thriller. If anyone wants a recommendation, then Hostel 1, 2 and 3 are my favourite movies!
