France’s National Assembly has approved the use of AI-powered video surveillance for the 2024 Paris Olympics, despite concerns from civil rights groups over the technology’s threat to civil liberties. The government believes that algorithmic video surveillance can detect predetermined events, crowd surges, and abnormal behavior, ensuring the safety of the millions of tourists expected to visit the French capital. France would become the first EU country to legalize AI-powered surveillance if the bill is formally adopted. However, privacy specialists remain skeptical that biometric data won’t be treated. The French privacy watchdog, CNIL, is supporting the French government’s bill on the condition that no biometric data is treated. Additionally, European lawmakers argue that this could set a worrying surveillance precedent. Finally, Access Now’s Leufer questions the technology’s effectiveness in spotting would-be attackers due to the complexities in training algorithms on rare incidents.
France Approves AI-Powered Video Surveillance for 2024 Paris Olympics
France’s National Assembly has given its approval for the use of AI-powered video surveillance during the 2024 Paris Olympics. The government believes that algorithmic video surveillance will detect predetermined events, crowd surges, and abnormal behavior to ensure the safety of the millions of tourists who are expected to visit the French capital. However, civil rights groups such as Amnesty International and digital rights groups have raised their concerns over this technology, warning that it could pose a threat to civil liberties.
France would become the first European Union country to legalize AI-powered surveillance if the bill is formally adopted, which could set a worrying surveillance precedent, according to a group of European lawmakers. Stephane Mazars, a lawmaker from President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, defended the technology, saying that “France will need to rise to the meet the greatest security challenge in its history.”
The bill’s proponents claim that no biometric data will be treated, but privacy specialists are skeptical. The French privacy watchdog, CNIL, supports the government’s bill, subject to the condition that no biometric data is treated. The European Union is also discussing its AI Act, which will regulate the use of artificial intelligence in Europe, including its use in public sector and law enforcement.
The 2024 Paris Olympics AI surveillance plan has met resistance from civil rights groups who argue that the technology draws a dangerous line in the sand and poses a threat to civil freedoms. The bill was approved by a margin of 59-17 in the 577-seat chamber after the biggest legislative hurdles were cleared with favorable preliminary votes in the Senate and Assembly.
AI-powered surveillance could have helped prevent the 2016 Nice attack by identifying the suspicious movements of a truck used to plow through a crowd, according to Sacha Houlie, the ruling party lawmaker who chairs parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs. The technology could also have helped avert the crowd chaos at the Champions League Final in Paris last year.
Conclusion
The use of AI-powered video surveillance during the 2024 Paris Olympics has been approved by the French National Assembly, despite concerns from civil rights groups that the technology poses a threat to civil liberties. The government argues that algorithmic video surveillance can detect predetermined events, crowd surges, and abnormal behavior to ensure the safety of millions of tourists expected to visit the French capital. However, opponents argue that this technology draws a dangerous line in the sand and could set a worrying surveillance precedent. France would become the first EU country to legalize AI-powered surveillance if the bill is formally adopted.
French National Assembly Approves AI-Powered Video Surveillance for 2024 Paris Olympics
France’s National Assembly has approved AI-powered video surveillance for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The bill has cleared the biggest legislative hurdles with favorable preliminary votes in the Senate and Assembly. Access Now’s Leufer has raised concerns over the technology’s effectiveness in spotting attackers due to the complexities in training algorithms on rare incidents. A joint-chamber committee will seek compromise on any differences in the text that they agreed on during the debate.
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