Police mass AI surveillance pilot draws rebuke from privacy experts
More than 130,000 faces have already been scanned under WA Police's landmark facial recognition trial. The privacy watchdog, experts and Aboriginal advocates are raising concerns about who could be caught in its net.
An Australian police force has begun a pilot program using live AI facial recognition technology, drawing criticism from privacy experts. The trial, conducted in Western Australia, has scanned over 130,000 faces in Perth and Fremantle, comparing them against a watchlist of about 4,000 individuals. WA Police say the early results are promising, with 33 alerts and 18 arrests.
However, privacy advocates raise concerns about the opacity of the watchlist and the potential targeting of First Nations people. The technology's accuracy has been questioned, particularly for people of colour and women, due to the algorithms being trained on predominantly white and male faces. WA Police have not released detailed data about the trial and claim they will assess demographics during deployments.
Critics argue that the consultation process was inadequate, with Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia expressing disappointment at the lack of meaningful input from their organization.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
