Historically, artificial intelligence (AI) research draws inspiration from human cognition, seeking to produce similarly intelligent behavior in artificial systems. Repetitive learning is the most important part of artificial intelligence. The South African electronic security industry is very data intensive, able to produce 1000 000 events per day and more than 1000 GB of video and voice data per day at a site. Many research and development groups in the security industry are looking extensively at AI to assist human operators to isolate important information from the avalanche of data. The selling potential systems resides in new AI based products and systems that can provide human-like sensibilities and reasoning. This paper gives an overview of existing and potential applications of AI in the security industry in South Africa. The paper highlights the value-adding potential of AI as a management tool to security systems.