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![\"Ruth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4190924_web1_260501-911-AI--1-.jpg\")
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Ruth Bonneville \/ Free Press<\/p>\n
Hyper co-founder Ben Sanders in his Winnipeg office on Friday. The firm\u2019s tech is being used by the Toronto Police Service, among others.<\/p>\n
Sanders added to his list of accomplishments last month, when Chicago-based communications tech giant Motorola Solutions Inc., acquired HyperYou Inc., a startup he co-founded and led as CEO.<\/p>\n
Founded in 2023, Hyper uses artificial intelligence to screen out non-emergency 911 calls. Motorola Solutions announced in a release the acquisition will expand the company\u2019s use of agentic AI across Command Center, its public safety platform. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.<\/p>\n
Hyper\u2019s 18 employees, including Sanders and co-founder Damian McCabe, joined Motorola.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been really cool,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we thought about ways that we could get this technology into the hands of people who needed it faster, and accelerate our mission of helping save more lives, Motorola was kind of the obvious first choice because it built a lot of the core technology that\u2019s used in 911 today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hyper\u2019s technology handles the majority of non-emergency calls by listening to 911 callers, responding to them and asking follow-up questions in more than 30 languages. The tool then routes callers to the correct agency or to a human, if needed.<\/p>\n
Sanders, McCabe and their team designed it to reduce the burden on understaffed emergency dispatch centres.<\/p>\n
In a 2023 survey by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch, many 911 call centres across the U.S. reported being understaffed by 25 per cent. Hyper reports on its website its AI agent autonomously resolves up to 75 per cent of non-emergency calls.<\/p>\n
Sanders says a number of his interests converged when he co-founded Hyper, including his fascination with first responders and his passion for public service.<\/p>\n
As a child growing up in Thompson, he was obsessed with the idea of becoming an RCMP officer. He convinced his mother to sew yellow stripes on his navy sweatpants. He walked around outside, cap gun in hand, wearing those sweatpants along with a life jacket that served as his bulletproof vest.<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually, one of the (local) officers \u2026 gave me his rain hat, and then I really looked the part,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cI wore that basically for a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Sanders\u2019 family moved to Winnipeg when he was six years old, his mother worked as a host on CBC radio \u2014 something he says gave him an understanding of the power of voice.<\/p>\n
Presto, the first startup Sanders was involved with, employed AI-assisted speech recognition technology to automate aspects of drive-thru orders at quick-service restaurants.<\/p>\n
With Hyper, Sanders wanted to use AI for a different purpose.<\/p>\n
About a year after he and his team started building the technology, his father sent him a news article about Mayor Scott Gillingham\u2019s commitment during the 2022 municipal election to reduce city services\/information 311 line\u2019s wait times to fewer than three minutes.<\/p>\n
Sanders reached out to the City of Winnipeg about possibly using AI to accomplish that goal. Later, someone suggested he explore applying the technology to emergency calls.<\/p>\n
Now, Hyper is being used by a growing number of 911 teams across Canada and the United States, including the Toronto Police Service. The Motorola Solutions acquisition will allow the technology to get into even more hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cBuilding up more of these agents to do other cool, really helpful things is going to transform the way that we help save people\u2019s lives and support the important work that\u2019s done by 911 (operators) in our community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a critical service and it\u2019s such a privilege to be able to kind of build technology that helps do that better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Motorola Solutions is pleased to have the Hyper team on board, said Jeremiah Nelson, corporate vice-president of product and technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cBen\u2019s a very impressive founder,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cI really appreciate his vision (and) his leadership. He\u2019s attracted a really strong team, a very talented team, to build this technology, and it makes me just really excited to have him be part of Motorola.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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Sanders was living off the grid near Whitehorse when he co-founded Hyper. <\/p>\n
He and his life partner, who is also from Winnipeg, moved back to the Manitoba capital at the end of 2024 in part so their children could grow up close to extended family.<\/p>\n
On June 21, 1959, Winnipeg became the first city in North America to provide what today is known as the 911 emergency phone number. \u201cWinnipeg has a storied history in being an innovator in 911 and it continues today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sanders will soon return to Coll\u00e8ge Jeanne-Sauv\u00e9, the high school he graduated from. \u201cIt\u2019s my 25th high school reunion,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t believe it. Time\u2019s just flown by.\u201d<\/p>\n
aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Aaron Epp Aaron Epp reports on business for the Free Press. After freelancing for the paper for a decade, he joined the staff full-time in 2024. Read more about Aaron<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Aaron produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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