Struggling with safety concerns and crime post-pandemic, New York's MTA plans to deploy AI technology to analyze subway security footage. This system aims to detect problematic behaviors without using facial recognition, allowing for automated alerts to the NYPD on potential issues. While approximately 40% of subway cameras are monitored live, AI could extend surveillance coverage without requiring human staff. Critics, including the New York Civil Liberties Union, caution that the technology may falsely accuse innocent riders and exacerbate existing biases.
AI is the future," says MTA Chief Security Officer Michael Kemper. "We're working with tech companies literally right now and seeing what's out there right now on the market, what's feasible, what would work in the subway system.
Using artificial intelligence-a technology notoriously unreliable and biased-to monitor our subways and send in police risks exacerbating these disparities and creating new problems," New York Civil Liberties Union Senior Policy Counsel Justin Harrison tells Gothamist. "Real public safety comes from investing in our communities, not from omnipresent surveillance.
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