Bede Liu, an emeritus professor of electrical engineering and a pioneer in digital signal processing, died on May 7. He was 91. Liu’s pathbreaking research aided the transition from analog to digital processing of sound, images and video. Along with the 53 Ph.D. students he mentored, he developed methods of filtering and compressing digital signals to mitigate errors and dramatically reduce the computation needed for signal processing. These techniques have led to now-ubiquitous technologies for storing and streaming media. “He was a highly impactful scholar and teacher — always thinking ahead of future needs and changing technologies,” said colleague Peter Ramadge, the Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor of Engineering, Emeritus. In the 1990s, Liu turned his attention to media integrity and copyright issues. He created techniques for digital watermarking — hidden signals that could identify a genuine copy of a song, image or video and prevent unauthorized distribution or tampering. Lessons learned from Liu's work have guided industries in identifying suitable settings and applications for watermarking. For example, each copy of a Hollywood film given to a critic or theater now carries a unique forensic watermark to prevent unauthorized redistribution, said Min Wu, a 2001 Ph.D. alumna who worked on digital watermarking with Liu. Former students and colleagues remembered Liu for his humility, humor and generosity. For Ken Steiglitz, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Computer Science, Emeritus, “cheer” is the word that first comes to mind when thinking of Liu. He was “always ready with a positive remark, a quick smile, or, maybe, some tips on the right way to cook a duck.” Liu loved to organize dinners with colleagues and students at Chinese restaurants — both in the Princeton area and when traveling for conferences, said H. Vincent Poor, the Michael Henry Strater University Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Jun 25, 2026 · via princeton.edu
How to talk about "AI" without adding to the anthropomorphization Emily M. Bender and Nanna Inie In our op-ed for Tech Policy Press ("We Need to Talk About How We Talk About 'AI'"), we made the case against the anthropomorphizing language that makes it harder to have clear discussions of what so-called "AI" technologies actually do, and when and whether to use them. But these ways of speaking are deeply ingrained at this point, and it takes work carve new conversational and writing habits. That work involves at least three steps: - Noticing which word choices are anthropomorphizing - Finding alternatives - Getting in the habit of using the alternatives In our research (summarized in the op-ed) we have been working on the first two steps, categorizing the kinds of anthropomorphizing language and using those categories to organize potential alternatives. De-anthropomorphizing language talks about computer systems in terms of their functionality (what people build and/or use them to do), assigns agency to people using systems and not systems, and avoids aggrandizing metaphors about cognition. We aim to find substitutes that are as self-explanatory as possible, so that you can just go ahead and use them without having to explain. (Though of course, if someone asks "Why are you calling it that?" that's also a great opening.) Some of these rephrasings may feel a little clunky, and they can end up longer than the anthropomorphizing shorthand. This means it takes a little more dedication to use them, but also isn't necessarily a bad thing. We should stop and think about the tech we are using, or even discussing, and what it actually does. We'll go through the categories of anthropomorphizing language we identified in Inie et al 2026, and give examples of de-anthropomorphized versions for each. Our suggestions Cognizer and products
Jun 25, 2026 · via buttondown.com
Meta Launches Cheaper Smart Glasses Without Ray-Ban, Starting at $299 Meta announced a new line of AI smart glasses, designed in-house without Ray-Ban, starting at a lower price of $299. On Tuesday, Meta unveiled what it calls the Meta Adventurer and Fury glasses. The new smart glasses, which will be sold under Meta’s own brand, will cost $80 less than the second-generation Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer model announced last year. The Meta Adventurer and Fury glasses will start at $299, making them less expensive than the latest Ray-Ban models, which start at $379. According to CNN, the lower price could help put the wearable devices in the hands of more consumers as the company faces pressure to show that its significant investments in AI can produce successful products. “You really want to be able to be in many places in the market, so reaching people isn’t just about even design and style, it’s also about the price point,” Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth says during a press event, according to the news outlet. Although Meta designed the glasses, manufacturing will be handled by its partner EssilorLuxottica SA, the parent company of Ray-Ban and Oakley. EssilorLuxottica’s logo appears alongside Meta’s branding on the inside of the temple arms and on the packaging. Meta is also introducing a $399 Starfire model in collaboration with Kylie Jenner, which is intended to appeal to younger consumers. Are Camera-Free Meta Glasses on the Horizon? According to a report by Bloomberg, Meta also suggested it is considering a version of its smart glasses without a camera, focusing instead on audio features such as phone calls, media playback, and interactions with its AI tools. The company did not provide details on when such glasses could be released or how they might be branded. However, Meta says some
Jun 25, 2026 · via petapixel.com
TSA and Google Wallet bring touchless airport security to more travellers The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has partnered with Google Wallet to make its TSA PreCheck Touchless ID program easier to use. It now allows eligible travellers to enrol directly through the digital wallet rather than through individual airline apps. The integration makes Google Wallet the first digital wallet to support TSA PreCheck Touchless ID, expanding access to a facial recognition-based identity verification system designed to speed passengers through airport security. The feature is available at 65 airports across the United States and works with more than 100 airlines participating in TSA PreCheck. Google Wallet simplifies TSA PreCheck Touchless ID enrollment Previously, travellers wanting to use Touchless ID generally had to opt in separately through participating airline apps after uploading passport information. The new Google Wallet integration creates a single enrollment pathway regardless of which participating airline they are flying. To use the feature, eligible travellers: - Check in with a participating airline. - Add their boarding pass to Google Wallet. - Tap the “Get started” prompt if they have an eligible digital ID stored in Wallet. - Consent to share their digital ID and boarding pass information with TSA. - Receive confirmation, after which their boarding pass displays a TSA PreCheck Touchless ID indicator. “Our collaboration with Google helps our trusted TSA PreCheck travellers enjoy the fastest route through airport security. Delivering seamless experiences like this is one more way TSA is working to deliver the Golden Age of Travel,” said Shelu Patel, TSA Modernisation Acting Chief Innovation Officer. P.J. Linarducci, vice president of product management, Consumer Payments, at Google, added: “This collaboration aligns perfectly with our goal to make digital experiences more secure and convenient, and we look forward to seeing it roll out broadly just as
Jun 25, 2026 · via aerospaceglobalnews.com
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Jun 25, 2026 · via metro.co.uk
Abstract Emotion recognition is one of the most important and complex challenges for machines to understand, as most robots and AI agents struggle with human-centric perception and interpretation. Therefore, this paper introduces a novel multimodal emotion recognition system that analyzes emotions through two complementary channels: voice and facial expressions. The proposed approach is evaluated on the RAVDESS and CREMA-D datasets, which consist of acted emotional expressions across multiple discrete emotion categories. Utilizing an advanced multimodal deep feature fusion technique, the system combines handcrafted audio features (e.g., Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs)) with deep visual features extracted from an attention-based VGGFace model. These features are integrated into a unified representation through a hybrid fusion strategy that jointly employs concatenation, cross-attention, gated fusion, and multiplicative fusion mechanisms to capture complementary cross-modal interactions. To ensure a comprehensive and realistic assessment, the model is evaluated under both random-split and strict speaker-independent protocols. On the RAVDESS dataset, the proposed system achieves an accuracy of 95.83% under random-split evaluation and 48.06% ± 9.76% accuracy under speaker-independent Leave-One-Speaker-Out (LOSO) testing, while on the CREMA-D dataset it attains 73.54% accuracy using random splits and 53.12% ± 2.65% accuracy under subject-exclusive speaker-independent 5-fold cross-validation. Similar content being viewed by others Introduction Emotion recognition is a human ability that adults acquire through nonverbal cues. Human emotions do not follow fixed patterns or rules that can be directly applied to achieve a result. Rather, human emotions are psychological and physical responses that appear differently across individuals. Each person shows emotions through unique methods, which make their emotional expressions different from others. Thus, recognizing emotions may be somewhat complex, but adults can intuitively recognize the feelings of others based on their knowledge of many factors, such as how to differentiate between different vocal tones that carry underlying emotions, such as the tone of
Jun 25, 2026 · via nature.com
A new report sheds light on the unprecedented growth of the US government’s immigration surveillance arsenal, revealing fresh details about how spending on technology and AI tools to find and track migrants has soared to record levels during Donald Trump’s second term. The report, released this week, analyzed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) contracts with 11 companies the authors said provide surveillance tech. They found the money awarded to these firms doubled from 2024 to 2025, to just over $310m – and in 2026, that number soared to a record $513m. Researchers traced these contracts as far back as 2013, when they hovered under $50m, and found a steady increase over time – with a bigger jump over the last two years. The report notes this new growth is primarily driven by huge new contracts for Palantir, a data analytics company that is central to ICE’s enforcement operations, as well as Anduril, a defense company that has built AI-powered surveillance systems, tech-infused border towers, drones and sensors. The sweeping analysis, which was produced by immigration rights organization Mijente, legal advocates Just Futures Law and research group Surveillance Resistance Lab, comes as a large influx of money has made ICE the best-funded law enforcement agency in the US, and supercharged immigration agencies’ surveillance ambitions. The report highlights how ICE is directing these taxpayer funds towards multimillion-dollar federal contracts for a diverse group of tools and services. They include money for data brokers, analytics software, social media scrapers, facial recognition technologies, hacking devices and spyware to break into phones, external contractors that the study’s authors characterize as “bounty hunters” and “autonomous” border towers and drones. The report also details how the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE and CBP, doesn’t just buy
Jun 24, 2026 · via theguardian.com
It's no secret that publicly criticizing Madison Square Garden Entertainment CEO James Dolan might get you put on a list. Now, a leaked document reveals the company compiled a detailed dossier on activists who oppose its venues' facial recognition surveillance -- and packed those files with a startling amount of their personal information. The alleged document, titled "Facial Recognition Activists.docx," was made public after a group of hackers published a 45GB cache of data they stole from MSG earlier in June, which leaked 26 million customer records, including contact details and biometric or facial recognition data. The news follows an extensive Wired investigation from April that found that New York Knicks owner Dolan operates an expansive biometric surveillance network far beyond MSG's venues, which include Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theatre. The company says it uses face-scanning technology to identify potential security threats, but its biometric surveillance practices have drawn sharp criticism. Activists, civil rights groups and public officials have long warned that the deployment of facial recognition at entertainment venues, private homes and public streets strips individuals of anonymity. By harvesting and storing a massive trove of sensitive data, these systems create digital paper trails that are highly vulnerable to security breaches. In fact, MSG is now facing three class-action lawsuits stemming from the massive hack, according to the New York Times. The suits say the company failed to adequately protect sensitive information and are seeking damages for the breach and the risk of identity theft and privacy harm. A representative for MSG Entertainment did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Targeting activists According to reporting by 404 Media, which downloaded and reviewed the leaked data from the hack, the dossier tracking facial recognition critics contains private data on three activists, including
Jun 24, 2026 · via cnet.com
The Metropolitan Police have announced a major expansion of technology across London, including drones, live facial recognition and AI.
The Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has warned that tech is driving crime, not just enabling it – and without these tools, police will be outpaced by criminals.
But critics, and some within policing itself, say it’s being rolled out faster than the law can keep up. We spoke to the Met chief and put those concerns to him.
And a warning, this report contains flashing images.
Jun 24, 2026 · via channel4.com
LifeX, a healthcare data intelligence company, has been finally selected for 'Unicorn Bridge,' a promising startup nurturing program by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. LifeX was selected as a participating company in the '2026 Unicorn Bridge' in recognition of its technological capabilities to connect and analyze health data generated from medical institutions and daily life, as well as its business achievements in the global market. Unicorn Bridge is a government support program introduced for the first time this year to support the global expansion and scale-up of promising companies in deep tech fields such as AI, bio, and healthcare. Selected companies are provided with various forms of support for pioneering global markets and expanding their businesses. Global expansion as a pregnancy and rare disease data platform LifeX’s core competitive advantage lies in its 'Data Intelligence' technology, which transforms health data into a form that users can easily understand and utilize. In particular, the fetal growth indicator analysis function is implemented based on proprietary medical ultrasound image processing technology and AI. It is compatible with over 95% of major global diagnostic devices and automatically structures ultrasound images to provide analysis results in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) standards. This technology serves as the foundation for LifeX’s flagship services: the pregnancy and parenting platform 'Mamitalk' and the cancer and rare disease patient support platform 'RareNote'. Mamitalk is a service that provides health information necessary for the entire process of pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing, including AI growth analysis based on fetal ultrasound images. Rarenote provides disease information, the status of treatment development, and clinical trial information to patients with cancer and rare diseases and their families, and collaborates with global pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca and Novartis. Based on service operation experience accumulated in Korea, LifeX has expanded its business into
Jun 24, 2026 · via venturesquare.net
Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Wednesday directed Delhi Police to aggressively adopt artificial intelligence (AI) and other modern technologies for the prevention of sophisticated crimes and staying “ahead of emerging threats”. Chairing a meeting with Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golchha and other senior officers during his first visit to the Delhi Police Headquarters, Mr. Sandhu called for a “humane, highly visible and proactive citizen-centric policing approach”. The L-G instructed officers to proactively identify potential crime hotspots, pre-empt street crimes and pay special attention to the safety of girl students. “To stay ahead of emerging threats, the L-G mandated the adoption of modern policing technology, aggressively leveraging AI, drones, facial recognition systems and social media monitoring for advanced crime prevention,” said officials who attended the meeting. Strictly enforce rules He said officers must remain “approachable, empathetic and fair” to strengthen public trust and confidence. Mr. Sandhu also directed authorities to ensure a visible traffic police presence on roads, particularly at major choke points, and strictly enforce rules against offences such as wrong-side driving, triple-riding on two-wheelers and riding without helmets. The L-G urged police personnel to actively integrate Resident Welfare Associations, Market Welfare Associations and street vendors into the community policing framework to build a robust local intelligence network. The L-G also stressed the need to increase female representation in the police force and reminded officers that citizens judge the administration by “tangible outcomes”. “Good results speak louder than voices,” Mr. Sandhu said. Published - June 25, 2026 12:03 am IST This is a premium article, available exclusively to subscribers. The Hindu delivers independent, credible journalism that explains events with depth, context, and perspective. - Digital and ePaper access - Premium stories and opinions - An ever-growing e-books library - Subscriber-exclusive webinars *This offer is only for first-time subscribers.
Jun 24, 2026 · via thehindu.com
Missoula council delays park camera upgrade vote amid AI surveillance concerns MISSOULA, Mont. — Missoula City Council is putting off a decision to purchase and upgrade cameras for city parks and facilities amid concerns over artificial intelligence capabilities. The contract for upgraded cameras made by the company Verkada was front and center, after widespread public concern about their ability to use AI for facial recognition and license plate scanning. If approved, the cameras would have been installed at Splash Montana, Currents Aquatic Center, Mobash Skatepark and Fort Missoula Regional Park. All of the sites currently have older cameras. The city insists the cameras are to upgrade existing infrastructure after an uptick in incidents. "In terms of vandalism, in 2025 just this past fall, the windows at the Currents Aquatic Center were vandalized, and by vandalized I mean someone threw rocks through them shattering them and throwing glass and rocks into the pool," said Marina Yoshioka, the director of Missoula Parks and Recreation. Yoshioka also cited damage at Fort Missoula's soccer fields and muggings at Mobash Skate Park. The city's chief operations officer, Eric Hallstrom, was asked by council if buying cameras without AI software was possible. "I don't know that we could do it with dumb cameras, I think we'd still be in a position where we're buying products that are touted as having AI capabilities," said Hallstrom. Hallstrom says in today's times most modern cameras are advertised as AI capable cameras, while city IT added that the current cameras are on their last leg with some already failing. Officials also noted that data from the camera expires in 60 days, adding access and ability to control the data would be limited to only a few people. They also added that if the city decided to terminate the contract, all
Jun 24, 2026 · via nbcmontana.com
Eighteen years ago, we built Hootsuite because social was changing how the world communicated. The goal back then was simple: Help brands show up and not miss the moment. I came back a few months ago. One of the first calls we made was harder to explain. We took apart products that worked. Not because they were broken. Because “working” wasn’t going to be enough for what’s coming, and I’d rather risk confusion now than wake up irrelevant later. Why we broke something that worked The honest version: The market didn’t give us a choice. Here’s the thing I keep sitting with. Most AI is trained on the past. It’s very good at summarising, drafting, and reasoning over what already happened. But it’s close to blind on what’s happening right now: What people are saying about your brand this morning, the trend that lands and is gone by lunch, the narrative forming before anyone on your team flags it. Every AI vendor is promising intelligence. Most are delivering pattern recognition trained on public data that’s weeks or months old. That gap – between what the model knows and what’s actually happening in your market – is huge, and getting wider. We have something they don’t: a live signal layer built over eighteen years, across 150 million sources, 187 languages, and every major platform. That’s not a dataset. It’s the closest thing to a real-time read on what people actually think that exists in a commercial product. The signal most AI can’t see Social-first AI is built on top of live social intelligence, not a general-purpose language model with social features bolted on. The difference matters: General AI tells you what was true. Social-first AI tells you what’s true right now, in your market, about your brand. The signal is there.
Jun 24, 2026 · via blog.hootsuite.com
LONDON: London's Metropolitan Police force said on Wednesday it will expand the use of drones, artificial intelligence and live facial recognition technology, which has been criticised by rights campaigners. The scale-up plan involves rolling out static facial recognition across central London and having drone coverage in every London borough in a year's time, the Met said in a press release. "Policing today will fail if it is not allowed to keep pace with criminals through technology," Met Commissioner Mark Rowley said. In a speech, Rowley called for the force to be allowed to deploy new technology without being bogged down by legislation and bureaucracy. Earlier this month, the police chief criticised London Mayor Sadiq Khan's decision to block a multi-million-pound contract with Palantir for the Met to use the AI giant's technology. According to Rowley, a Palantir pilot had helped the UK's biggest police force consolidate its data. "We must now bring the same technologies to bear in how we tackle crime more broadly," he said. The mayor's office previously said it was not satisfied the Met had demonstrated the value for money of Palantir's technology. Rowley also called live facial recognition "the clearest example of what new technology can do", citing that the tech has "contributed to more than 2,000 arrests" since 2024. The Met scans the faces of passers-by and compares their biometrics with thousands on a watchlist, under its usage policy. The UK is the only European country to deploy the technology on a large scale. — AFP Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
Jun 24, 2026 · via omanobserver.om
LONDON (AFP) â London’s Metropolitan Police force said Wednesday it will expand the use of drones, artificial intelligence and live facial recognition technology, which has been criticized by rights campaigners. The scale-up plan involves rolling out static facial recognition across central London and having drone coverage in every London borough in a year’s time, the Met said in a news release. “Policing today will fail if it is not allowed to keep pace with criminals through technology,” Met Commissioner Mark Rowley said. In a speech, Rowley called for the force to be allowed to deploy new technology without being bogged down by legislation and bureaucracy. Earlier this month, the police chief criticized London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s decision to block a multimillion-pound contract with Palantir for the Met to use the AI giant’s technology. According to Rowley, a Palantir pilot had helped the U.K.’s biggest police force consolidate its data. “We must now bring the same technologies to bear in how we tackle crime more broadly,” he said. The mayor’s office previously said it was not satisfied the Met had demonstrated the value for money of Palantir’s technology. Rowley also called live facial recognition “the clearest example of what new technology can do,” citing that the tech has “contributed to more than 2,000 arrests” since 2024. The Met scans the faces of passers-by and compares their biometrics with thousands on a watchlist, under its usage policy. The U.K. is the only European country to deploy the technology on a large scale. The adoption has faced criticism from human rights organizations, citing fears of mass surveillance and risks of misidentification. In April, the High Court in London ruled that the Met had “adequate safeguards against abuse” after the force was taken to court by a man falsely identified as a suspect. Such
Jun 24, 2026 · via courthousenews.com
This week it was announced that there would be an expansion of the London police force’s use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology. Following a decade of use of the face-matching software with mobile camera vans, and then a pilot deployment with fixed cameras in Croydon, new fixed-camera operations will start in London’s West End and Soho. The Met were early adopters of this technology in 2016, largely writing their own rules for deployment. In April 2026, the UK’s High Court ruled that the current Metropolitan Police use of LFR is lawful and proportionate. This latest development is then a further erosion of the liberties of the general public, but is unlikely to actually prevent any crime. LFR scans passing faces but only captures a person’s image if their face is matched to one on the watchlist. Then a human police officer intervenes to offer the matchee a chance to prove they are NOT the wanted individual. Your own face could put you in the position of showing your passport to the police to identify yourself. Most people will be unaware that their faces have even been scanned. Past surveys of UK public opinion have found divided views: few are completely opposed to LFR, and a large majority support its use at riots and football matches; even at peaceful protests, support outweighs opposition. The government’s own research found a majority in favor of its use even for fraud and antisocial behavior. A slight majority say deployment in their local High Street would make them feel safer, and are willing to accept a loss of privacy to catch more criminals. On the other hand, around a third said they’d be unlikely to attend a protest or a picket line if LFR were in use. Given that it has already been used
Jun 24, 2026 · via unherd.com
Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more. From face-unlock locks to self-drawing curtains, these SwitchBot Prime Day picks stand out 21 hours ago Prime Day is a great time to take advantage of some steep discounts and upgrade your smart home setup. And with SwitchBot, you don’t even have to turn to multiple brands to make your picks. Whether you’re looking for a way to sort out hands-free entry at your front door, automate the curtains you currently open and close by hand, turn a blank stretch of wall into a rotating gallery, or anything else, SwitchBot has you covered, and with up to 50% off on everything for Prime Day. Here’s what you need to know. SwitchBot Lock Vision Series If you’re tired of digging around for keys or tapping codes, and just want a quick and hands-free, but safe, way to enter your house, the Lock Vision Series is SwitchBot’s answer. There are two models in the series, and both use advanced 3D structured-light facial recognition to unlock the door as you approach. Of course, the system is designed to resist spoofing attempts from photos or videos, so a printed picture will not fool it. It’s a retrofit lock too, which means it mounts over your existing deadbolt without you needing to swap out the whole mechanism or call a locksmith. You can also manage both using the SwitchBot app for remote control, access logs, and sharing entry with family. The difference between the two versions comes in the number of entry methods available. The standard Lock Vision covers face recognition and hands-free unlocking, which is plenty for most households. Meanwhile, the Lock Vision Pro adds two extra biometric options, fingerprint recognition and palm vein recognition, which not only adds more security, but
Jun 23, 2026 · via androidauthority.com
Daihatsu Motor has introduced an AI-based inspection system for transmission components at its Shiga (Ryuo) Plant in Japan, developed jointly with VRAIN Solution, a manufacturer-focused AI solutions firm. The system uses image recognition to identify scratches and other defects inside machined aluminium holes to a 0.1mm tolerance, replacing a process previously dependent on skilled manual inspection.
Variation in defect type and position across machined holes had resisted earlier attempts at automation, making inspection dependent on accumulated operator expertise. Combining that shop-floor knowledge with image recognition algorithms, Daihatsu and VRAIN Solution produced a system capable of consistent accuracy without manual intervention.
The deployment forms part of Daihatsu’s company-wide digital transformation (DX) programme, conducted under the slogan “Digital Technology That Cares for People.” The approach is designed to be led from the shop floor, with the automaker running on-site training to build workers’ own capacity to implement AI tools across its manufacturing sites.
Daihatsu and VRAIN Solution have jointly filed patent applications covering the technology. The system is currently operational at the plant’s No. 1 area and is applicable to aluminium products of similar structure, with plans to expand it to other component inspection processes.
Source: Daihatsu
Jun 23, 2026 · via automotiveworld.com
The Metropolitan Police has announced plans to expand its deployment of live facial recognition (LFR) technology in London. The Met Police force is planning on having the intrusive scanning technology set up in Soho and the West End by December 2026. Over the following year, six more areas across London are slated to follow. However, civil liberties organisation Big Brother Watch has called these plans: an alarming escalation of an intrusive technology which has already scanned the faces of millions of innocent Londoners. Likewise, the privacy campaigner also highlighted the recent high-profile case of Alvi Choudhury. The young British-Asian man was mistakenly arrested due to an AI facial recognition error. This sparked conversations around the technology’s racial bias. Met Police build ‘secretive watchlists’ The Met Police has recorded over 2,000 LFR-assisted arrests since 2024. Human rights organisation Liberty explained that LFR: usually involves parking vans equipped with the tech on busy shopping streets or outside stadiums and train stations, scanning the hundreds of thousands of us who come within range of the police cameras on the vehicles’ roofs, attempting to match our faces in real time to images on secretive watchlists. According to the Met Police Commissioner, its new LFR cameras will be fixed in place on lamp-posts and similar vantage points. However, the cameras could also be repositioned if officers notice “shifts in crime patterns or tactics”. The force has already trialled similar static cameras in Croydon, marking the first such deployment in the UK. It pronounced the pilot a success, with commissioner Mark Rowley claiming that the 6-month test: delivered over 170 arrests, a reduction in crime, and a significant fall in violence against women and girls. All these results with only one false alert among hundreds of thousands of people. The technology supports officers to target wanted
Jun 23, 2026 · via thecanary.co