Artificial Intelligence for U.S. Police: Reality Catches Up to Science Fiction

The April 3, 2018, Wall Street Journal article “Artificial Intelligence Could Soon Enhance Real-Time Police Surveillance” by Shibani Mahtani and Zusha Elinson mirrors similar news from China and is equally of concern. This news also makes near future science fiction stories move closer to reality:

Several technology companies are working with police departments across the U.S. to develop the capability to add artificial intelligence to video surveillance and body cameras that could identify faces in real time, potentially expanding the reach of police surveillance.

The body-camera technology, expected to be ready by the fall, hasn’t yet been purchased by police departments and is still in the development stage. Police departments, including the New York Police Department, already use facial recognition to review surveillance footage after a crime has occurred.

The new software uses an algorithm to tell an officer on the spot, through a body camera or a video surveillance camera, that it has found a suspect. The officer could then make a decision of whether to stop the suspect or take some other action.

When I emailed my dear friend Bonnie Bartel Latino (@BonnieLatino on Twitter) about this Wall Street Journal article, she replied asking if I had incorporated this into my near future sci fi universe (see www.millermosaicllc.com/mississippi-divide/). I told her that, although government surveillance is a major part of my sci fi universe, I would add a reference to this new reality in THE TRUTHFINDER story I’m currently serializing on Wattpad.

I then added this paragraph to Chapter 7, which takes place in 2030 in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River. (You can read this chapter on Wattpad at http://budurl.me/Chap7Truthfinder or start with Chapter 1 on Wattpad at http://budurl.me/Chap1Truthfinder)

It wasn’t as if U.S. police didn’t have ample tech surveillance tools to monitor everyone. Ever since the last months of 2018, many police departments had been using artificial intelligence added to video surveillance and body cameras that could identify faces in real time. Although civil liberties groups protested, this surveillance technology had been credited with stopping several lone wolf terrorist attacks before these had been launched.

Note that I’m NOT advocating for or against the use of AI for police departments. I simply believe that the purpose of science fiction — besides entertainment — is to provoke consideration and discussion of what “advances” could mean for the future of humanity.

As technology grows ever more powerful, we do have to be wary of how far is too far. I am personally haunted by Isaac Asimov’s short story THE LAST QUESTION. If you’ve never read it, I recommend you do so now. And then think about where technology may be taking us.

Check the Wikipedia entry for this short story to learn in which short story collections you can find THE LAST QUESTION. The Wikipedia entry includes this sentence about the story: “It was Asimov’s favorite short story of his own authorship.”

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. Phyllis is available by skype for book group discussions and may be reached at pzmiller@gmail.com

Her Kindle fiction ebooks may be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller — and her Kindle nonfiction ebooks may also be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller