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Friday, Feb 14, 2025
Mugglehead Investment Magazine
Alternative investment news based in Vancouver, B.C.

AI and Autonomy

Argentina implements artificial intelligence to find crime before it happens

Human rights organizations are up in arms over the potential for human rights abuses

Argentina implements artificial intelligence to find crime before it happens
President Javier Milei of Argentina. Image from Farid Dumat Kelzi via the AP.

The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, has taken a page from science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report by committing to use artificial intelligence to predict future crime.

Earlier this week, Milei created the Artificial Intelligence Applied to Security Unit, which will use machine learning to analyze historical crime data with the intention of predicting future criminal behaviour.

The country also intends on using facial recognition software to patrol social media, identify wanted people, and scour security camera footage in real time to detect suspicious activities.

Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, enables systems to learn and improve from experience, analyzing data to make decisions. This exemplifies what Vancouver-based VERSES AI Inc. (CBOE: VERS) (OTCQB: VRSSF) calls “narrow” AI. The tech performs specific tasks like language translation or image recognition, unlike general AI which aims to replicate human cognitive abilities across various domains.

The Ministry of Security will oversee the new agency.

Minister Patricia Bullrich signed the resolution and emphasized the importance of applying artificial intelligence to prevent, detect, investigate, and prosecute crime and its connections. She points to similar advancements in other countries to support this initiative. The decision stems from the belief that AI will significantly enhance the efficiency of the ministry, the federal police, and security forces, enabling faster and more precise responses to threats and emergencies.

Additionally, it aims to discover suspicious financial transactions or anomalous behaviour that could indicate illegal activities. The new unit will not only handle virtual spaces. It will patrol large areas using drones, provide aerial surveillance, and respond to emergencies. Furthermore, it will perform dangerous tasks, such as defusing explosives, using robots.

Read more: VERSES crafts trail blazing research report on next-gen AI

Read more: VERSES AI levels up with global standards for intelligent system interoperability

Argentina has a dark history of repression

Amnesty International warned about the potential for human rights abuses.

“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 warned that authorities have historically used such technologies to “profile academics, journalists, politicians, and activists,” which, without supervision, threatens privacy.

The latest measure has prompted a particularly strong reaction in a country with a dark history of state repression. An estimated 30,000 people were forcibly disappeared, some thrown alive from planes and helicopters on so-called “death flights” during Argentina’s brutal 1976-83 dictatorship. Thousands were also tortured, and hundreds of children were kidnapped.

A source from the ministry of security stated that the new unit will operate under the current legislative framework, including the Personal Information Protection Act mandate. The source added that the unit will focus on applying AI, data analytics, and machine learning to identify criminal patterns and trends in the ministry of security databases.

“The government body created to patrol social networks, applications and websites contradicts several articles of the National Constitution,” said Martín Becerra, a professor and researcher in media and information technology for the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes.

“The government of Milei [and Bullrich] is anti-liberal. It decrees new regulations, reinforces the state’s repressive function, increases the opacity of public funds and eliminates norms that sought to protect the most vulnerable.”

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