Argentina Taps AI to Predict Future Crimes, Igniting Heated Debate

Argentina's Ministry of Security introduces an AI unit to predict and prevent future crimes, stirring heated debate and high hopes for enhanced security.

AI Unit to Predict Future Crimes

Argentina plans to employ AI to "predict future crimes" before their initiation, as revealed last week. The country's Ministry of Security presented the idea, which has been the stuff of science fiction for a long time, as a new Artificial Intelligence Unit Applied to Security.

Unit duties will include "prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crime," drone monitoring, social media patrols, and enhanced security measures through facial recognition technology.

With the words "significantly improve the efficiency of the different areas of the ministry and of the federal police and security forces, allowing for faster and more precise responses to threats and emergencies," Patricia Bullrich, the minister of security, signed a resolution stating as much.

Predicting Crimes with Machine Learning

Apparently, the new unit's mission is to "use machine learning algorithms to analyze historical crime data to predict future crimes and help prevent them."

Several nations have been ahead of the curve when it comes to using AI for security operations, including the US, China, and Israel, according to the ministry.

Potential Threat to Freedom of Expression

CBS News shares that concerned that people may self-censor their social media posts out of fear that the government is monitoring them, human rights organizations worry that the new regulations could restrict freedom of expression.

Academics, journalists, politicians, and activists have all been profiled using similar technologies in the past, according to the Argentine Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information. They demanded openness on the origins and precise use of the technologies. If there is no responsibility, the organization argued, it will be "worrying."

Javier Milei, a populist libertarian, ran for president of Argentina last year on a platform of reducing crime, combating extreme poverty, and lowering the country's high inflation and poverty rates.

His administration's handling of demonstrators has already drawn criticism. Following the senate's approval of his contentious package of legislative measures in June, dozens of people were hurt, and fifteen were arrested in skirmishes between demonstrators and security personnel.