Greetings all, and I hope ye are well. Its an absolutely gorgeously fresh and warm day in East London. Which is just beyond nice after the furnace that was last week. And is a nice reprieve before the furnace that is next week.
Lots of news today. For those interested in armed conflict, or autonomous weapons – or anyone with a general interest in dystopian futures really – the New Scientist has a story reporting on the use of fully autonomous weapons systems to kill Russian soldiers. This is the first story i can recall actually discussing the targeting of people with autonomous systems. And it is notable that this ‘test’ took place two years ago. You would imagine that things have progressed substantially since then. Relatedly, The Hill has a story noting that the Grok chatbot (what a gross name) has been used in thousands of strikes on Iran.
The Global Investigative Journalist Network have published a really cool looking ‘AI Accountability Reporting Guide’. Its a very interesting discussion of how to investigate AI-related issues, with links to some great stories. And speaking of great investigations… WIRED has a piece looking at police crime prediction in the UK. The use of AI (or other analytics) by public authorities is really under-reported i think, and Bristol seems to be a really interesting case study. The Data Justice Lab reported on elements of their algorithm use in a social welfare context years ago, but things clearly remain opaque. What is particularly interesting about Bristol – i think – is that they are working across sectors. So the risk assessments involve police, social welfare and education, as opposed to remaining within one of those silos. From memory, the systems drew from 35 separate databases at one point. Its a good read, and importantly it really highlights the difficulties in investigating – and challenging – these types of systems. (oh how circular) How do you get access to the training data, or the input data criteria, for example? For those interested, here is an older story looking specifically at Bristol’s Think Family database.
In facial recognition news, the Met have announced the installation of permanent live facial recognition cameras in Soho and the West End. There’s obviously a lot to say, and Big Brother Watch’s comment is here. But it is perhaps worth noting that under the EU AI Act police use of live FRT should be exceptional, and for serious crime. Current Met use is routine, and apparently for very ordinary crime. A breakdown of crime stats would be really interesting. Of course, any focus on LFR (appropriate as it is) shouldn’t distract from the very invasive use of RFR, and the potential application of advanced analytics (to track, profile, etc).
I was in Geneva last week with Gina Romero, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and Association, in the context of her report on the chilling effects of surveillance. Some news pieces included below. But if you’re interested in the chilling effects of surveillance, the Global Study is available for your perusal and pleasure.
I’ll leave you this week with Cure for Paranoia’s Tiny Desk performance. Worth a watch, not just a listen. It’s a work of art.
Be well. Stay lovely.
Global Investigative Journalist Network, AI Accountability Reporting Guide
New Scientist, Fully autonomous drones have killed human soldiers for the first time
WIRED, British Police Built a Sprawling Crime-Prediction Machine. Some Results Couldn’t Be Trusted
Marshall Project, New York Police and Prediction and Civil Rights
404 Media, Madison Square Garden Made Dossier on Activists Who Opposed Facial Recognition
Computer Weekly, Chilling effects of surveillance threaten democracy, UN finds
Tech Policy Press, The Quiet Erosion of Collective Action Under Digital Surveillance
Syracuse, Federal agents track down Syracuse woman, demand she remove Instagram post about ICE (ability to do this underscores surveillance capacity and availability)
The Hill, Intelligence agencies warn AI models could launch crippling cyberattacks in months
The Hill, YouTube settles case brought by minor alleging harm (this follows reports of settlement agreements by other companies over the last few weeks)
SMEX, Why has Israel’s NSO changed its WhatsApp spyware attack strategy?
The Guardian, ‘There’s this deep mystery of what, actually, is this thing?’: the philosopher inside Google DeepMind AI
Rest of World News, The AI-powered World Cup runs on thousands of data workers (because i’m ever topical)
The Guardian, Datacentres are growing target of global climate-related legal cases, report finds
AlgorithmWatch, How Algorithmic Systems Govern Kenya’s Content Moderators
Big Brother Watch, Big Brother Watch responds to the expansion of fixed facial recognition cameras in London
BBC, Met Police to extend live facial recognition to West End and Soho
BBC, Drone network part of Met’s London-wide tech push
The Conversation, WA police are scanning faces in public – and the law is not ready for the consequences
BBC, Man arrested in Peterborough by police using facial recognition
The Conversation, World Cup propels surveillance to new heights
BBC, Residents react to AI facial recognition in Peterborough (but, as noted by my colleague Pete, ‘Privacy is a more urgent issue for some people than others. The view of a Reform boomer in Surrey isn’t really relevant because they’re not really affected by this technology’)
The New World, Forget about privacy unless you’re a billionaire
AP, A city’s push for facial recognition on public buses ignites debate over security and privacy (re Kansas)
Financial Times, What would multilateral ‘AI arms control’ look like?
Financial Times, Use of artificial intelligence for mental health splits opinion
New York Times, A.I. Is Strangling Our Economy
BBC, Ukrainian drones drive Russia to declare emergency in occupied Crimea
The Guardian, Australian rescue team uses AI-powered drone to find lost hikers – video
Financial Times, How the DeepMind mafia brought the AI boom to London
New York Times, Chinese A.I. Models Gain Ground on Anthropic and OpenAI