Sachin Solkhan, a veteran software engineer who works with Fidelity Investments, has thought a lot about how technology can help people with dementia recognize their loved ones.

So when Amazon launched its DeepLens camera in November 2017, he got the idea to use its artificial intelligence software to do just that. Ahead of the device's official launch later this week, he attended a hackathon on his own time to build a system that records a user's experiences and recognizes the person right in front of them.

"I wanted to find a way to use the device to help out someone who is struggling," he said.

DeepLens is Amazon's equivalent of Google's Clips "smart" camera, but it's targeted to developers instead of consumers. The idea is to use artificial intelligence technology to make it easier for the camera to do things like recognize objects or characters that appear in a video stream.