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  • 5 hours ago
AI cameras in the voting booth, voters' lists erased by an algorithm? AI plays an important role in the upcoming West Bengal Elections. Authorities claim it’s all for security - but critics say it could be misused.

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00:00AI-enabled cameras monitoring polling areas in real time, detecting crowd buildups or suspicious
00:06movements. Police equipped with body-worn cameras recording everyone near polling stations.
00:11This is the plan for the West Bengal elections. It's projected to be the most extensive security
00:17deployment in India's electoral history. The Election Commission of India has even set up
00:23a central AI control room. It will monitor tens of thousands of polling stations. Authorities say
00:29it is necessary to ensure security after so many cases of election violence. But multiple cameras
00:36even set up in voting booths also raise questions about surveillance. Even more, an AI algorithm used
00:43to clean up voting lists has sparked outrage. The ECI used AI to flag discrepancies between voter lists
00:50and their documents. Authorities said they wanted to erase names of duplicate and dead voters. But
00:57critics say millions of people were wrongly removed due to spelling differences in names or unrealistic
01:03criteria the AI used. They also say specific communities like Muslims, Matawas and Rajbangshis
01:09were targeted. Still, despite the dispute, the ECI continued to use the software.
01:15Do you think AI can make elections safer?
01:18Do you think AI can make elections safer?
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