New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it’s exploring the usage of AI methods for “predictive prevention” of crime and harmful habits on town’s subway platforms.
MTA chief safety officer Michael Kemper mentioned that the company is “learning and piloting know-how like AI to sense potential hassle or problematic habits on our subway platforms.”
“If somebody is performing out, irrational… it might probably set off an alert that might set off a response from both safety and/or the police division,” he defined throughout an MTA safety committee meeting Monday, emphasizing that the police response might come “earlier than ready for one thing to occur.”
“AI is the longer term,” he added, noting that the MTA is “working with tech firms actually proper now” to research “what would work within the subway system.” Kemper didn’t element which firms the MTA is working with, how AI will probably be carried out, or precisely what kind of behaviour the AI-enabled cameras will probably be anticipated to detect.
Nevertheless, MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan confirmed to The Gothamist that the brand new system received’t depend on facial recognition. “The know-how being explored by the MTA is designed to determine behaviors, not folks,” Donovan mentioned.
This isn’t the primary time the MTA has carried out AI. In 2023 it disclosed that it was utilizing AI-powered surveillance software program to trace fare evaders on the subway, monitoring when, the place, and the way most fare evasion takes place.