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AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’

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101–110 of 201 posts

Re: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’

#101
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Authorities penalized families over a mere suspicion of fraud based on the system’s risk indicators" Don't do that part, nothing to do with AI, it's about humans being lazy

Have you met humans?

Wonderful, creative folks seeking fulfillment, yes.

Re: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’

#102

Bad premise, and therefore nonsense conclusions, because AI can have many uses, aside from surveillance. In this regard, it's not like a gun, which is very specifically an instrument to kill, and has secondary uses like shooting sports, but rather it's a tool, like tongs, which can be used for building, cooking, and also to torture someone. Advertising companies are jumping at AI for two things: it is hoped that it c…

> a gun, which is very specifically an instrument to kill

Is it though? Maybe a gun is the most efficient way to send a destructive projectile to a nearby target. Any "killing living things" part is secondary to the primary function.

> which can be used for building, cooking, and also to torture someone.

Okay but that may imply AI is a building technology, & cooking technology... and surveillance technology. That's how disruptive it is, it's coming at us on multiple fronts.

Re: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’

#103
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Authorities penalized families over a mere suspicion of fraud based on the system’s risk indicators" Don't do that part, nothing to do with AI, it's about humans being lazy

Have you met humans?

Have you? Humans can use anything as a form of oppression, they don't even need tools, they were oppressing the masses with "traditions" for millennia. I am not saying AI tools don't supercharge these things, but the solution to this problem is not crippling technology, it's to improve society. The printing press was used to both distribute hate speech and progressive manifestoes.

Re: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’

#104
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point isn't whether those things are correct. They are used as tools of surveillance and oppression. > These are ultimately surveillance systems that are being marketed to those who have power over us generally: our employers, governments, border control, etc., to make determinations and predictions that will shape our access to resources and opportunities. And hey, the more arbitrary or even false something is,…

>> Authorities penalized families over a mere suspicion of fraud based on the system’s risk indicators. Tens of thousands of families — often with lower incomes or belonging to ethnic minorities — were pushed into poverty because of exorbitant debts to the tax agency. Some victims committed suicide. More than a thousand children were taken into foster care. > Let that sink in. The need for governance is important. In…

We love our black boxes; not just technology either. From 'experts' to devices like lie detectors and bomb divining rods.

Re: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’

#105
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think any country has a police force with a shoot to wound policy. Your friend was extremely lucky. It's not practical to shoot to wound in most circumstances. The arms and legs move faster than a shooter can react and that's why center of mass is what is trained.

Sweden does. (I know because I live in Sweden.) https://polisen.se/om-polisen/polisens-arbete/polisens-befog... Relevant part: "Om polisen skjuter mot en person ska de sträva efter att bara för tillfället oskadliggöra personen. Skotten ska i första hand riktas mot benen, men om omständigheterna kräver det får polisen skjuta direkt mot överkroppen – till exempel om den hotfulla personen befinner sig nära i avstånd och…

That's interesting, it prompted me to read more on this. You definitely don't want to act in a threatening way in USA or Canada where it's shoot to kill and the death rates from police reflect this.

Re: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’

#106
post #41

AI (or probably more accurately, ML) is an efficiency technology. Surveillance is one thing it can make more efficient, sure.

It's the thing it does make more efficient, which was predictable. And accuracy doesn't matter. If it's 99% and the powerful are whitelisted for human review, that's enough. That's enough to pull a mesh so fine over every human being on the planet, forever, that reaches deeply into them before they can even begin to form a personality. The jump from individuals listening to individual phone calls as they were happeni…

Imagine an adversary country surveilling all the youth of another, or even just at elite schools, and being able to use that as blackmail as they age into the leadership class. Or maybe we just won’t care any more. We’ve recently had a US president accused of all sorts of unsavory things, but who still retains a massive following, even among Evangelicals. What possible revelation could bring him down?

Re: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’

#107
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many countries guns are used in a nonlethal way. My friend during psychosis stabbed a policeman in the leg with a kitchen knife, and was only shot in the leg as a response.

I don't think any country has a police force with a shoot to wound policy. Your friend was extremely lucky. It's not practical to shoot to wound in most circumstances. The arms and legs move faster than a shooter can react and that's why center of mass is what is trained.

I don't know of many countries explicitly require shoot to wound, but many functionally have this with laws that require minimizing harm.

It's noticeable in the stats of police shootings versus police killings, where countries with these types of laws might see 10 police shootings in a year but 0 or 1 police killings.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_firearm_use_by_countr...

Re: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’

#109
post #61
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your computer can spy on you. The web can spy on you. Your appliances can spy on you. Your car can spy on you. Your lightbulbs can spy on you. but you don't need tech for that, a spy can spy on you

I don't need a gun to kill people, I can use a knife, but the existence of knives doesn't negate the lethality of guns. Technology may not be necessary for surveillance but it is nonetheless used for surveillance. That other means besides technology can also be used for surveillance is irrelevant to the utility of technology for surveillance.

but the multifunctionality of knives makes them conceptualized as tools not just murder weapons

Re: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’

#110
Out of topic question.

Would it be possible to combine machine learning with something like 23andMe and match 100 000 person photos with their DNA. Would we have an AI model which basically can tell how the persons looks like from a strand of hair?

Imagine finding some DNA on a crime scene. Witnesses can say that this person was a bit overweight so you slide some slider to the right a bit and get a pretty good AI generated portrait of a criminal.

How cool and scary that would be.

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