Big Brother is watching — with a little help from artificial intelligence (AI).
Protests raging in the United States have led some law enforcement officials to rely on a controversial AI bot to observe (spy?) on demonstrators through AI agents.
Surveillance technology from Massive Blue, called Overwatch, is being pitched to police departments as an “AI-powered force multiplier for public safety” to deploy virtual agents that “infiltrate and engage criminal networks across various channels.” The New York-based company is marketing the product as a tool for law-enforcement agencies to prevent human trafficking and protecting schools.
But Overwatch is also being used to interact and collect intelligence on “college protesters,” “radicalized” political activists and suspected drug and human traffickers, according to an investigative report by 404 Media in Wired.
Massive Blue is selling cops virtual personas that interact with suspects via text messages and social media, according to internal documents, contracts and communications 404 Media obtained through public records requests.
A “radicalized” AI persona concocted by Massive Blue professes to be a 36-year-old, child-free divorced woman whose personality is outspoken, lonely and body positive. Her hobbies include baking and “activism.”
Other examples include a 14-year-old boy “child trafficking AI persona,” an “AI pimp persona,” “college protestor,” “external recruiter for protests,” “escorts” and “juveniles.”
The fake personas/AI agents commingle with suspects by building trust through interaction with the intent to glean information that can potentially be used as evidence.
What troubles privacy rights experts is that at no time is the suspect informed who they are communicating with – as call center consumers are typically told, upfront, they are being served by an AI agent.
While the approach may be considered acceptable – even necessary – in targeting human traffickers, violent sex criminals and other serious offenders, the deployment of Overwatch is considered an overreach, even entrapment, to monitor radical activists and college professors, privacy experts at the Electronic Frontier Foundation claim.
The technology, which reportedly has not resulted in any known arrests, illustrates how social media is being monitoring via AI to assist cops and border agents. [The lack of information of arrests could be because agencies using Overwatch choose to keep it confidential or the technology is in early-stage use.]
“We are proud of the work we do to support the investigation and prosecution of human traffickers,” Massive Blue co-founder Mike McGraw told 404 Media. “Our primary goal is to help bring these criminals to justice while helping victims who otherwise would remain trafficked. We cannot risk jeopardizing these investigations and putting victims’ lives in further danger by disclosing proprietary information.”
Law enforcement’s use of AI to locate people of interest is evolving quickly as agencies use the technology for surveillance and public safety. But some uses are pushing the boundaries into spying on protesters and activists, which alarms civil liberties advocates.
At the same time, Palantir Technologies Inc. has assumed an increased role with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to track down individuals and provide logistical support for the Trump Administration’s mass deportation effort. The big data analysis company, co-founded by Peter Thiel, is helping ICE pinpoint the physical location of people marked for deportation, according to internal documents obtained by 404 Media.
Another company offering surveillance technology, GEO Group Inc., has assisted the Trump Administration in tracking immigrants, according to a New York Times story.
