New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it’s exploring using AI techniques for “predictive prevention” of crime and harmful habits on town’s subway platforms.
MTA chief safety officer Michael Kemper stated that the company is “learning and piloting expertise like AI to sense potential bother or problematic habits on our subway platforms.”
“If somebody is performing out, irrational… it may doubtlessly set off an alert that will set off a response from both safety and/or the police division,” he defined throughout an MTA security committee assembly Monday, emphasizing that the police response may come “earlier than ready for one thing to occur.”
“AI is the longer term,” he added, noting that the MTA is “working with tech firms actually proper now” to research “what would work within the subway system.” Kemper didn’t element which firms the MTA is working with, how AI will likely be carried out, or precisely what kind of behaviour the AI-enabled cameras will likely be anticipated to detect.
However, MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan confirmed to The Gothamist that the brand new system received’t depend on facial recognition. “The expertise being explored by the MTA is designed to determine behaviors, not individuals,” Donovan stated.
This isn’t the primary time the MTA has carried out AI. In 2023 it disclosed that it was utilizing AI-powered surveillance software program to trace fare evaders on the subway, monitoring when, the place, and the way most fare evasion takes place.
