Despite strong opposition from rights groups, the French government intends to use artificial intelligence to aid video surveillance during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
As Reuters reports(Opens in a new window), the government will utilize AI because it’s able to detect “abnormal behavior” and “pre-determined events” when monitoring real-time video footage. An example given is crowd surges, which can cause serious safety problems for people caught up in them.
The use of AI during the Olympics is not guaranteed yet, but both the French Senate and Assembly have voted in favor of the bill. French minister Stephane Mazars believes the use of AI is required because, “in front of the whole world, France will need to rise to the meet the greatest security challenge in its history.” And if it does go ahead, France will become the first country within the EU to allow the legal use of AI surveillance.
Opposition comes from rights groups and a fear over biometric data being collected and processed.
The independent French administrative regulatory body the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) backed the bill under the condition no biometric data is processed. However, Daniel Leufer, policy advisor at digital rights organization Access Now, believes that isn’t possible, “You can do two things: object detection or analysis of human behaviour – the latter is the processing of biometric data.”
As The Register reports(Opens in a new window), 38 rights groups banded together to produce an open letter(Opens in a new window) opposing the bill that will eventually become law, calling it a “dangerous precedent for other European countries” because it counts as biometric surveillance.
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The letter explains, “If the purpose of algorithm-driven cameras is to detect specific suspicious events in public spaces, they will necessarily capture and analyze physiological features and behaviors of individuals present in these spaces, such as their body positions, gait, movements, gestures, or appearance.”
The only way the AI-powered surveillance could be stopped now is by challenging the bill in the country’s highest constitutional court.
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