Automated video surveillance

AFP English

Automated video surveillance is a technology which uses artificial intelligence, allowing multiple cameras to be monitored at the same time but raising concerns about civil liberties VIDEOGRAPHIC

Transcript

00:00Do you see this camera?

00:07It looks like an ordinary surveillance video camera, but it is equipped with a system of

00:11automated video surveillance, which is already being trialled or in operation in numerous

00:16countries.

00:17They are not viewed by a human security agent, but by artificial intelligence, trained to

00:23spot unusual activity, the movement of a crowd, a person lying on the ground, a car going

00:29the wrong way, or the start of a fire.

00:32It then alerts police who decide to intervene or not.

00:35Unlike a human, AI can provide continuous surveillance and with many cameras at the

00:40same time, but rights groups are concerned about automated video surveillance.

00:44The same technology, with a simple additional option, is capable of recognising faces and

00:50thus identifying people.

00:52With this option, and cross-referenced with police files, it potentially becomes a tool

00:57of mass surveillance.

00:58In the case of the private sector, automated video surveillance could be used to combat

01:03shoplifting, but also for targeting advertising or observing customer behaviour in shops.

01:09For all of its applications, rights groups fear that AI will develop biases.

01:14If poorly controlled, it could learn to reproduce discrimination, or too easily identify unusual

01:20but harmless behaviours as suspicious.

01:28For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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