Met Police commissioner dismisses critics of facial recognition systems

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The chief commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has dismissed critics of law enforcement using facial recognition systems.

Met Commissioner Cressida Dick was speaking at the Royal United Services Institute think tank on Monday. Much of Dick’s speech was spent on making the case for British police to use modern technologies to tackle crime.

https://youtu.be/8lv7qw6X_rs?t=1848

Dick accused critics of police facial recognition technology as being “highly...

25 February 2020 | Face Recognition

Facebook will teach its AI to spot shootings using videos of UK police firearms training

facebook ai uk police artificial intelligence shootings terrorist videos live stream

Facebook is using videos of British police firearms training to teach an AI to quickly spot shootings broadcast on its platform and limit their exposure.

Live-streaming poses a very modern but serious problem. As evident with the white supremacist attack in Christchurch in March, live-streams of terrorism can quickly go viral and taking down videos manually is often a slow process.

Automation can step-in to help identify and remove content to prevent terrorists from...

18 September 2019 | Artificial Intelligence

UK police are concerned AI will lead to bias and over-reliance on automation

British police have expressed concern that using AI in their operations may lead to increased bias and an over-reliance on automation.

A study commissioned by UK government advisory body the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation warned that police felt AI may "amplify" prejudices.

50 experts were interviewed by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) for the research, including senior police officers.

Racial profiling continues to be a huge problem. More...

17 September 2019 | Face Recognition

Police in China will use AI face recognition to identify ‘lost’ elderly

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Chinese police hope to use AI-powered facial recognition, in combination with the nation's mass surveillance network, to identify lost elderly people.

The country's surveillance network is often scrutinised for being invasive, but the ability to detect potentially vulnerable people helps to shift the perception that it primarily benefits the government.

Public data suggests around 500,000 elderly people get lost each year, the equivalent of around 1,370 per day. About 72...

5 August 2019 | Face Recognition

No Rekognition: Police ditch Amazon’s controversial facial recognition

Orlando Police have decided to ditch Amazon’s controversial facial recognition system Rekognition following technical issues.

Rekognition was called out by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for erroneously labelling those with darker skin tones as criminals more often in a test using a database of mugshots.

Jacob Snow, Technology and Civil Liberties Attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, said:

“Face surveillance will be used to...

19 July 2019 | Amazon

AI Experts: Dear Amazon, stop selling facial recognition to law enforcement

A group of AI experts have signed an open letter to Amazon demanding the company stops selling facial recognition to law enforcement following bias findings.

Back in January, AI News reported on findings by Algorithmic Justice League founder Joy Buolamwini who researched some of the world's most popular facial recognition algorithms.

Buolamwini found most of the algorithms were biased and misidentified subjects with darker skin colours and/or females more...

4 April 2019 | Amazon

Amazon joins calls to establish facial recognition standards

Amazon has put its weight behind the growing number of calls from companies, individuals, and rights groups to establish facial recognition standards.

Michael Punke, VP of Global Public Policy at Amazon Web Services, said.

"Over the past several months, we've talked to customers, researchers, academics, policymakers, and others to understand how to best balance the benefits of facial recognition with the potential risks.

It's critical that any legislation protect...

8 February 2019 | Amazon

AI tags potential criminals before they’ve done anything

British police want to use AI for highlighting who is at risk of becoming a criminal before they’ve actually committed any crime. Although it sounds like a dystopian nightmare, there are clear benefits. Resources and outreach programs can be allocated to attempt preventing a crime, stop anyone becoming a victim, and remove the costs associated with prosecuting and jailing someone. With prisons overburdened and space limited, reducing the need to lock someone up is a win for everyone....

28 November 2018 | Surveillance

INTERPOL investigates how AI will impact crime and policing

INTERPOL hosted an event in Singapore bringing leading experts together with the aim of examining how AI will affect crime and prevention. The event, organised by INTERPOL and the UNICRI Centre for AI and Robotics, was held at the former’s Global Complex for Innovation. Experts from across industries gathered to discuss issues and several private sector companies gave live demonstrations of related projects. Some technological advances in AI pose a threat. In a recent interview with Irakli...

17 July 2018 | Legislation & Government

Information Commissioner targets intrusive facial recognition

Facial recognition offers huge opportunities, but the Information Commissioner is more concerned about how it could impact privacy. In a post on the ICO blog, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham highlights the advantages and disadvantages of facial recognition. “I have identified FRT by law enforcement as a priority area for my office and I recently wrote to the Home Office and the NPCC setting out my concerns,” Denham wrote. “Should my concerns not be addressed, I will...

15 May 2018 | Legislation & Government