The recent advance of artificial intelligence represents a paradigm shift in the way the world works. Once unwieldy data sets can now be properly analyzed in the blink of an eye, artists can brush up their work with a simple command, and customers can chat with automated bots who are prepared to answer their questions in real time.
These advances also offer law enforcement agencies an opportunity to improve their monitoring and detection of illegal activities. AI is already being put to good use by services like Interpol, which uses machine learning algorithms to identify criminals and criminal activity faster than human agents.
However, many folks distrust AI and feel that AI-powered monitoring will infringe on their personal rights. While this is an understandable fear — who hasn’t seen Space Odyssey or Ex Machina? — the reality is that AI will improve your quality of life and help build a more transparent, accountable future. Achieving trust will require great transparency, accountability, and publicly visible ethical standards that dictate the way AI works.
Surveillance Development
For decades, surveillance has relied on CCTV that feeds back to a central video display where it is either viewed in real-time by an agent or saved for future use. While this approach has ensured that crimes committed in public places are recorded, it is innately passive. That is to say, unless an agent happens to spot a crime occurring on a CCTV camera, it’s likely that the crime will be missed.
AI is reshaping the way surveillance works by actively scanning feeds in search of crime and criminals. Emergent programs use complex machine-learning algorithms to detect patterns and alert human operators in real time if the algorithm suspects that a crime may be committed. Similarly, AI-powered CCTV can use facial recognition services to spot felons who are wanted by law enforcement or secure areas where personnel access is limited. This improves public safety and may act as a deterrent that simultaneously bolsters support of AI-led surveillance.
AI-driven video surveillance could be particularly useful in correctional facilities. Advanced analytics makes correctional facilities safer by detecting inmates who present a heightened threat to the safety of guards and other inmates. AI-powered cameras can also identify contraband with thermal sensors and motion detection. This keeps inmates safe by reducing the risk of weapons or drugs entering correctional facilities.
Highlighting AI for safety reasons can support efforts to build public trust. However, there must be clarity about the way AI is used. Inmates’ rights must be protected while incarcerated and ethical standards dictating the use of AI should be publicly available to all who fear that AI will infringe on civil liberties.
Creating Trust
AI-powered CCTV is the future of correctional facility surveillance and will play a pivotal role in securing sensitive sites like military bases, banks, or business buildings. However, some folks fear that CCTV will intrude on our personal liberties and result in a perpetual panopticon that watches our every step lest we jaywalk or accidentally litter.
Those who fear the future of AI-led satellite surveillance point towards technology like the American-made “spy bird” USA 245. USA 245 is a $4 billion orbital telescope that circumnavigates the planet in low orbit and offers real-time surveillance of any given area. It uses a series of mirrors to capture stable video imagery and can fly at a velocity of 18,000 mph. This information is relayed to the CIA, FBI, DOD, and the NSA. Other nations, like Russia, have similar satellites that record video surveillance from the skies. These video feeds can be easily analyzed using AI to monitor and detect changes around the globe.
While AI-driven satellite surveillance sounds like a threat to security, it actually balances orbital power and increases safety around the globe. For example, AI-powered satellite surveillance can be used to detect emerging terror threats and predict illegal invasions before they occur. This increases global stability and ensures that international organizations like NATO and the UN are kept up to date with threats to human life.
That said, steps must be taken to ensure that the age of space reconnaissance remains ethical. This is why the National Space Council has recently recommended “a study to develop a framework for space data ethics,” that will establish the boundaries for safe, ethical data ethics, AI ethics, and intelligence/espionage ethics. Establishing this framework quickly is crucial, as folks need to understand the laws that govern the collection of their personal data from space. By making AI and personal privacy laws public, governments can be held accountable, and civil liberties will be protected.
Web Safety
Modern surveillance means far more than operating CCTV cameras and border control. Today, surveillance must extend to the web where cybercrime and radicalization run rife. Artificial intelligence can meaningfully improve web safety and help folks build trust in automated tools designed to keep malicious actors at bay.
This sentiment is echoed by America’s Cyber Defense Agency which posits that responsible AI use will respect privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties while protecting critical infrastructures against threats. This can make breaches like the 2020 SolarWinds attack, orchestrated by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, that undermined national security. This breach exposed the personal data of 18,000 customers, including some federal agencies.
By highlighting the benefits of AI-led cybersecurity, public opinion may begin to sway toward the support of automation and algorithms. This is crucial, as trust in, and widespread support of, AI cybersecurity is necessary for the wide-scale adoption of high-tech web safety solutions.
Conclusion
Most folks reflexively think of Hal of Space Odyssey fame when they hear “surveillance” and “AI” in the same sentence. However, in reality, AI empowers human agents and increases our safety and security. Advanced AI programs can empower efforts to secure and maintain peace internationally and can significantly reduce the risk of malicious actors gaining access to personal data. Educating the public is therefore key to future efforts to build trust and increase AI-powered monitoring adoption.
Amanda Winstead is a freelance writer and blogger, covering political and economic trends. Follow Amanda on Twitter @AmandaWinsteadd.
Photo: Tobias Tullius.
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