AI Surveillance and Social Progress - Schneier on Security
www.schneier.com
In the near future, AI-powered surveillance systems will be able to track everything we do in public, and much of what we do in private. And if we do something wrong—shoplift, litter, jaywalk, you name it—the system will notice, retain it, tie it to your official government record, communicate that fact to you, and provide real-time alerts to any relevant authorities… and maybe also to the general public. Think of these systems as automated speed cameras, but on steroids. Only they’ll enforce not just speed limits, but any other rule you can imagine. And you won’t receive a ticket weeks later by mail; you’ll be informed about and fined for your violation immediately...

In the near future, AI-powered surveillance systems will be able to track everything we do in public, and much of what we do in private. And if we do something wrong—shoplift, litter, jaywalk, you name it—the system will notice, retain it, tie it to your official government record, communicate that fact to you, and provide real-time alerts to any relevant authorities… and maybe also to the general public.

Think of these systems as automated speed cameras, but on steroids. Only they’ll enforce not just speed limits, but any other rule you can imagine. And you won’t receive a ticket weeks later by mail; you’ll be informed about and fined for your violation immediately.

These systems will combine powerful AI, public and private surveillance via real-time facial recognition technology and digital tracking, mass databases and highly personalized enforcement. If deployed at scale, they will have profound chilling effects not just on personal freedoms, but democracy and social progress itself.

  • WatDabney@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    8·
    21 hours ago

    By design.

    The tech oligarchs are in the process of building a new feudalism, which, like the old feudalism, will consist of two things - one relatively small group of gentry who own all the property and are free to do entirely as they please, and the rest of the populace relegated to being obedient peasants who own nothing and have no freedom at all.

    And surveillance and data collection and control are going to be integral to that.

    • MrKoyun@lemmy.world
      2·
      20 hours ago

      Hello, I’m Mr. Defeatist. We have let many many horrible things happen until now and people still dont care that much! Peace out.

  • OctopusNemeses@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    21 hours ago

    It’s already here. Stop moving the goal posts.

    The inflection point of mass data collection and analytics was about 15 years ago when social media and smartphones became normal. They are extremely effective at mass surveillance.

    AI has been around for longer than the age of mass surveillance. It’s just fashionable to write about AI now because everyone thinks LLMs suddenly gave rise to Skynet. They don’t need a word salad machine to get any better at what they’ve already mastered.