SEA.AI is an Austrian maritime technology company founded in 2018 (originally as OSCAR) that combines advanced optical and thermal cameras with proprietary artificial intelligence to detect, classify, and track floating objects on the water — including small craft, debris, buoys, kayaks, and persons overboard — that conventional systems such as radar and AIS routinely miss. Its core products include Watchkeeper (ultra-wide field-of-view camera system for recreational and naval use), Sentry (for commercial vessels, superyachts, and government fleets), Brain (a retrofit AI module for existing thermal cameras), and Competition (for ocean racing yachts). With over 1,200 systems deployed globally and teams across Austria, France, Portugal, the USA, and Australia, SEA.AI serves a wide spectrum of customers ranging from solo offshore racers and superyacht owners to commercial shipping, coast guards, and naval forces.

The technology uses deep-learning algorithms trained on millions of annotated maritime images collected since 2018 across ocean racing, recreational boating, and commercial shipping. An onboard IMU combined with AI-based horizon detection enables reliable image stabilisation even in heavy sea states. The system continuously classifies detected objects — vessel type, floating hazard, person in water — and delivers real-time alerts to crews or autonomous vehicle control systems.

SEA.AI has expanded strongly into defence and security markets, positioning its machine vision as a perception layer for unmanned surface vessels (USVs). At NATO's REPMUS 2026 exercise in Portugal, the company demonstrated its technology across multiple USV platforms operated by Maritime Robotics, SYOS Aerospace, Polar Mist Technologies, and the Portuguese Navy. The company has also partnered with Anschütz to integrate machine vision into the Autonomics Navigation Suite for autonomous bridge systems, and its Watchkeeper system is integrated into the naval USV12 platform developed by VN Maritime and Havelsan.

Beyond defence, SEA.AI has secured public tenders and conservation partnerships, including a contract from Spain's MITECO ministry for marine mammal detection and collaborations with WeWhale, the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, and the EU ATLANTIC WHALE DEAL project. The company raised €3 million in a Series A round in 2021 from investors Stephan Schambach and Christoph Ballin (co-founder of Torqeedo), alongside existing shareholder Invest AG.