Argentina’s security forces have announced plans to use artificial intelligence to “predict future crimes” in a move experts have warned could threaten citizens’ rights.
The country’s far-right president Javier Milei this week created the Artificial Intelligence Applied to Security Unit, which the legislation says will use “machine-learning algorithms to analyse historical crime data to predict future crimes”. It is also expected to deploy facial recognition software to identify “wanted persons”, patrol social media, and analyse real-time security camera footage to detect suspicious activities.
While the ministry of security has said the new unit will help to “detect potential threats, identify movements of criminal groups or anticipate disturbances”, the Minority Report-esque resolution has sent alarm bells ringing among human rights organisations.
Experts fear that certain groups of society could be overly scrutinised by the technology, and have also raised concerns over who – and how many security forces – will be able to access the information.
Amnesty International warned that the move could infringe on human rights. “Large-scale surveillance affects freedom of expression because it encourages people to self-censor or refrain from sharing their ideas or criticisms if they suspect that everything they comment on, post, or publish is being monitored by security forces,” said Mariela Belski, the executive director of Amnesty International Argentina.
Meanwhile, the Argentine Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information said such technologies have historically been used to “profile academics, journalists, politicians and activists”, which, without supervision, threatens privacy.
Milei, a far-right libertarian, rose to power late last year and has promised a hardline response to tackling crime. His security minister Patricia Bullrich reportedly seeks to replicate El Salvador’s controversial prison model, while the administration is moving towards militarising security policy, according to the Center for Legal and Social Studies. The government has also cracked down on protests, with riot police recently shooting tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators at close range, and officials threatening to sanction parents who bring children to marches.
The latest measure has prompted an especially strong reaction in a country with a dark history of state repression; an estimated 30,000 people were forcibly disappeared during its brutal 1976-83 dictatorship, some thrown alive from planes on so-called “death flights”. Thousands were also tortured, and hundreds of children kidnapped.
A ministry of security source said that the new unit will work under the current legislative framework, including the Personal Information Protection Act mandate. It added that it will concentrate in applying AI, data analytics and machine learning to identify criminal patterns and trends in the ministry of security databases.
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