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Amazon-Powered AI Cameras Used to Detect Emotions of Unwitting UK Train Passengers
CCTV cameras and AI are being combined to monitor crowds, detect bike thefts, and spot trespassers.
The scope of the AI trials, elements of which have previously been reported, was revealed in a cache of documents obtained in response to a freedom of information request by civil liberties group Big Brother Watch. Hurfurt says the most “concerning” element of the trials focused on “passenger demographics.” According to the documents, this setup could use images from the cameras to produce a “statistical analysis of age range and male/female demographics,” and is also able to “analyze for emotion” such as “happy, sad, and angry.” It is unclear how widely the emotion detection analysis was deployed, with the documents at times saying the use case should be “viewed with more caution” and reports from stations saying it is “impossible to validate accuracy.” However, Gregory Butler, the CEO of data analytics and computer vision company Purple Transform, which has been working with Network Rail on the trials, says the capability was discontinued during the tests and that no images were stored when it was active.
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