As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly choose CCTV cameras for your UK business premises.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   Someone with a licence or accountable authority has to sign this before it counts.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open a floor plan or draw the premises layout, then mark entrances, tills, stock areas, staff-only areas, outdoor approaches, lighting, obstructions and approximate dimensions.
   2. Gather your requirements for image detail, night coverage, recording retention, remote access, audio, analytics, network connection, power, cabling and budget.
   3. Collect current product pages and datasheets from manufacturers or reputable UK suppliers, then paste the relevant links and text into the prompt with your site information.
   4. Run the prompt and ask the chatbot to remove any product whose specification or compatibility cannot be sourced.
   5. Compare the proposed coverage against the floor plan and identify views that still depend on a physical survey, test footage or installer confirmation.
   6. Check the compliance checklist against current ICO CCTV guidance and send the provisional design to a reputable CCTV installer and, where the monitoring is intrusive or complex, a data protection specialist.
   7. Obtain an installation quotation that states camera locations, storage, access controls, retention, maintenance, warranty and who is responsible for configuring the system before you buy.

   Prompt

   Help me shortlist CCTV equipment for my UK business premises. Do not make a final purchase decision and do not claim that the design is legally compliant without evidence.
   
   Business type: [business type]
   Premises layout and approximate dimensions: [layout and dimensions]
   Indoor areas to cover: [areas]
   Outdoor areas to cover: [areas]
   Entry points, tills, stock areas or other priority views: [priority areas]
   Lighting conditions, including night lighting: [lighting]
   Known blind spots or obstructions: [obstructions]
   Internet and network details: [network details]
   Power and cabling constraints: [constraints]
   Whether audio recording is being considered: [yes or no]
   Whether face recognition, number plate recognition or other analytics are being considered: [details]
   Required retention period and reason: [requirement]
   Budget range: [budget]
   Preferred installation date: [date]
   
   Use current UK manufacturer documentation and retailer or installer information where available. Separate confirmed facts from assumptions and identify the source for every product specification, compatibility claim and price. Compare suitable camera types, resolution, field of view, low-light performance, weather rating, storage, network requirements, warranty and likely installation constraints. Explain what cannot be decided without a site survey.
   
   Produce:
   1. A requirements summary.
   2. A shortlist of suitable products, with alternatives where a specification is uncertain.
   3. A comparison table with sources.
   4. A proposed camera location and coverage plan described in plain language, clearly labelled as provisional.
   5. Questions to ask an installer.
   6. A UK CCTV compliance checklist covering purpose, necessity, proportionality, signage, access, retention, security and handling of subject access requests. Refer me to the ICO and a data protection specialist for advice rather than deciding compliance for me.
   7. A list of facts I must verify physically or with the installer before buying.
   
   Do not invent dimensions, prices, specifications, legal conclusions or coverage. Flag any missing input that could change the recommendation.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.