artificial intelligence For the main manufacturers of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance systems, the emergence of artificial intelligence in the world of security has been a revolution. The ability to provide intelligence and self-learning to the global network of cameras has marked a before and after in the sector and, therefore, in society.
In the security field
AI has multiple applications : from being able dataset to detect suspicious behavior or identify criminals, to predicting possible criminal behavior. But, in the end, as always in these cases, expectations have fallen far short of reality.
While we are going to delve into the negative aspect of the matter and why it is not a good idea to leave our surveillance systems in the hands of algorithms, we must bear in mind that the emergence of technologies such as deep learning and machine learning has helped the user to make effective decisions much more quickly .
The challenge of AI in security
Nowadays we are more than used to artificial intelligence being part of our lives . Whether it is to recommend series and films that suit our tastes or to help us with more serious things such as driving systems.
However, when we ask these AI algorithms to protect the best times to from your lead generation our assets or help the police identify and arrest a suspect, things get complicated. According to experts in the sector , the errors we are seeing now are the same ones that John McCarthy predicted in his book “Artificial Intelligence” (1956).
For years, there have been cycles of enthusiasm
disappointment when it was discovered that algorithms were not intelligent enough to become experts.
smart algorithms
In addition
the cost of the hardware that would allow them to function was often unaffordable.
A few years later, it seems that these errors fresh list have been forgotten thanks to the marketing of the new generation of AI. These magic acronyms promise 99% accuracy in their tasks – always under ideal conditions that almost never occur in reality.
And under the umbrella of that percentage appears the root problem of AI and security, because we are leaving our security in the hands of a solution that already warns us that it will not work correctly at 100% .
Revealing flaws in the functioning of AI
First, there is their fragility . Deep learning systems promise us robust and self-learning solutions. However, although in most situations a deep learning algorithm is able to perfectly differentiate the elements it is seeing, this is not always the case.
In addition, we have built-in biases, including the most worrying one: the racial bias of AI . In some cities, such as San Francisco, the use of facial recognition systems is prohibited because of this problem.
One high-profile case was that of Robert
Julian-Borchak Williams. d. A video of a robbery and identified him as a suspect. After being arrested. He spent time in jail and was subjected to several. Interrogations until someone realised that the AI had made a mistake. Unfortunately, Julian-Borchak Williams’ case is not an isolated one; in fact, there have been several similar incidents involving black people.
surveillance with artificial intelligence
If we ask the manufacturers of facial recognition. Systems (those who promise us an accuracy. Close to 100%) if these numbers are. Also the same when identifying non-Caucasian people. The answer would not be so concise.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has been using Clearview AI facial recognition software since March 2022 with the intention of verifying war crimes . The system identifies the dead, both Russian and Ukrainian. However, this software has been the protagonist of several controversies in the United Kingdom , where the Israeli company that makes it has been fined for obtaining and storing images of users without consent.
Despite these limitations and shortcomings
as well as inherent privacy issues. It is clear that the emergence. Of AI in the world of security is something beneficial. Still to be refined, but beneficial. In fact. It has allowed systems to make a technological leap. At a qualitative level , but we are still a long way from allowing. AI to carry out processes automatically without. Being supervised by human intelligence .