
AI-powered cameras become new tool against mass shootings - prostoalex
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-04/ai-powered-cameras-become-new-tool-against-mass-shootings
======
eveningcoffee
This looks like a build of total surveillance system like in China. Except the
excuse is different.

------
noir_lord
Next up, guns on the cameras, human in the loop is too slow so they wire the
guns to the AI directly but then they realise that it would be better if the
AI was mobile, after an extensive beta program.

Education Droid (ED), v209 (ED-209 for short) is deployed to all high schools
nationwide.

~~~
AstralStorm
I think this is a Judge Dredd reference, is that correct?

~~~
braythwayt
You youngsters!

It’s a Westworld reference. No, not the television show. The original 1973 Yul
Brynner picture.

~~~
hobos_delight
ED-209 was from the first Robocop.

~~~
noir_lord
It was indeed but I figured they where joking.

Original RoboCop isn't exactly obscure among geeks around my age.

------
Insanity
That's like a hack to cover up a fundamental flaw in the system..

~~~
monk_e_boy
Are gun laws a bug in the system, fixable albeit a hard bug to fix.

Or, as I suspect, a design flaw that is impossible to fix. So you have to
patch around it.

~~~
tqkxzugoaupvwqr
1\. Gun laws are not the design flaw. The design flaw is a two-party system
and allowing politicians to be sponsored by corporations.

2\. As Dave Chappelle said: The gun laws will be fixed as soon as non-whites
start buying guns en masse.

------
the_trapper
I'm waiting for a politician to pass legislation requiring us to have the
telescreens from 1984.

We already have thought crimes, I mean red flag laws and no fly lists.

People need to stop giving up their liberty and privacy for perceived safety.

You're much more likely to be killed by an automobile than a mass shooting.
This is the new flavor of scare tactic.

~~~
onion2k
_This is the new flavor of scare tactic._

I'm British, and I find it really weird that Americans apparently live in
abject terror of the world around them. The notion that anyone in Britain
would ever need a deadly weapon to defend themselves is completely alien here.
We just ... don't.

~~~
otakucode
The primary reason for a need for guns is to retain the ability for a violent
uprising to overthrow an oppressive regime should one arise. One of the
benefits of the American system is that it does not assume infinite
beneficence and eternal benevolence on the part of the governing body. This is
wise because we know history. It doesn't make sense to fear being shot simply
because many people own guns. If it did, then it would make sense to be in
constant fear of vehicular homicide because automobiles are everywhere. It is
not possible to make it impossible for people to harm or kill one another.
Humans are hard to keep alive, not to kill. What protects you is not the
inability of your neighbors to kill you - they all can, and easily - or the
legal system, it is social and the philosophical outlook of those around you.
Those factors are scary to people so they often pretend to not see them, but
they're really the only protection humans can ever have and it is what they
actually rely upon to determine if they 'feel safe.'

~~~
onion2k
Do those Americans who believe they need guns to form a militia genuinely
think they could take on the US military in the need arose? In a battle
between a thousand guys with AR-15s against a single M1 Abhrams tank my money
would be on the tank.

~~~
the_trapper
Insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan have held up pretty well against the US
military over all. Pervasive gun ownership in these countries prior to our
involvement is a major part of this equation. I think a militia uprising in
the US would fare even better because a substantial number of the members of
said militia would have been trained by that very military they are fighting.
I also believe that a substantial number of the National Guard units would be
loyal to their state instead of a tyrannical federal government.

Let's also not forget that our country got its start by a scrappy group of
farmers and tradesmen armed only with muskets and flintlock pistols that
defeated the greatest world power at the time.

~~~
malandrew
There’s also a good chance that some, many or even most soldiers in the
military would end up on the side of the insurgency. They oath is sworn to the
Constitution, not the federal government.

------
otakucode
Name the last school shooting that took place at a school without surveillance
cameras. Can you? I doubt it. School shootings predominantly occur at the most
locked-down and oppressive schools in the country. The solution to some
adolescents being driven into such intense desperation that they are willing
to annihilate themselves just to do some damage and escape is not to squeeze
them tighter.

------
amelius
Why not put more intelligence into guns. E.g. fingerprint sensors, determine
how often/when they are taken out of the house, ...

Update: zoning technology could prevent guns from being used at schools.

~~~
knob
Addressing specifically your two points:

-fingerprints: because if the system fails, you have no gun. Internal malfunction? Greasy finger(s)? Gloves? Dirt? Dust? People whose fingerprints are really hard to print?

\- determjne how often/when they are taken out of the house: talking
specifically about the USA, that is a gross over-reach of the government
(local + federal) via registration. A central database with who has what gun
at what time? I'm against it.

I hope I can inspire you to look-up some additional information. Responsible
gun owners are not a problem. The FBI has statistics on "defensive gun use",
reporting that it happens over 250,000 times per year. Compared to what
number? 35-40,000 deaths per year involving guns? And of those, 20-30,000 are
suicides.

Please look up hard-data. Trying to take away guns will not solve the issues
society faces. Then why do it?

~~~
amelius
> fingerprints: because if the system fails, you have no gun.

That problem too can be addressed through statistics. How often does a
fingerprint sensor fail really? Note that the system could be made to err on
the safe side. And could a different technology like Apple's faceId provide a
solution perhaps?

> A central database with who has what gun at what time? I'm against it.

Could you explain why?

~~~
ryanjshaw
They do fail in very many common scenarios. Another issue is that practicality
dictates that fingerprint sensors require a manual fallback and that is the
weak point in this scheme. LockpickingLawyer has a fun video demonstrating
these issues [1].

[1] [https://youtu.be/WRve0s4iWzI](https://youtu.be/WRve0s4iWzI)

------
nimbius
>A mouse click instructed the artificial-intelligence-equipped system to find
other images of the woman, and it immediately stitched them into a video
narrative of her immediate location, where she had been and where she was
going.

So, convenient parallel construction at the click of a mouse?

>AI is transforming surveillance cameras from passive sentries into active
observers that can identify people, suspicious behavior and guns

Thats quite a leap from pattern tracking and user-instructed operation.

>“It’s almost kind of scary,” Tait said. “It will look at the expressions on
people’s faces and their mannerisms and be able to tell if they look violent.”

If you read my face as a High School kid, im sure it would flag a majority of
the time. I was one of those kids who was bullied and picked on often.
Teachers take no action, administrators ignore the problem, and sooner or
later the kid who gets smacked or hit or teased every day becomes determined
with nothing to lose.

I still dont see how more advanced cameras solve the problem of mass shootings
in the United States, when regular cameras routinely fail to do anything but
record events. No one ever said "well if we only had a better surveillance
camera" after a shooting occurred. Its security theater at best, and ignores
the real problem.

No one shoots up a private boarding school, or a country club, or a gated
community so no action will be taken. Wealthy Americans have entirely removed
themselves from this problem by constructing a second society, and until they
experience mass shootings there isnt likely to be any real improvement.

------
degski
The simplest way to avoid any problems is to lock everybody up, solitary
confinement. That's nice and clean and avoids trouble.

------
neonate
[http://archive.is/91qiC](http://archive.is/91qiC)

------
iamrobschiavone
Alternative headline: AI-powered cameras become new tool for mass surveillance

