The Paris Olympics under the supervision of AI!

The 2024 Paris Olympics will be highly monitored. The French police are planning to deploy a new tool: AI-equipped cameras to detect threats in real time. However, this decision is controversial because it raises critical questions about privacy rights.

The Eyes of AI on Paris

This is a global first. During the Paris 2024 Olympics, smart cameras will continually analyze crowds. Thanks to AI, they will be able to identify eight types of suspicious situations: abnormal crowd movements, unattended bags, presence of weapons, etc.

Six of these highly sophisticated cameras are currently being tested at the Accor Arena in Paris. They will be used in particular during two test concerts before being fully operational for the Olympics. The goal is to prevent any incident, following the chaos at the Stade de France during the 2022 Champions League final.

For the police, this system will significantly enhance the security of the Olympics, a major event under maximum surveillance. The AI cameras will multiply human capabilities by filtering video streams in real-time. This allows for almost instantaneous detection of incidents starting in the crowd.

The Ethical Challenges of Intelligent Surveillance

But the use of these technologies is drawing sharp criticism. First, they rely on opaque algorithms, whose exact functioning is difficult to verify. Moreover, mass surveillance, however intelligent it may be, poses risks to individual freedoms.

Certainly, the security challenges of the Olympics are real. However, deploying these tools on a permanent basis would create a dangerous precedent. Large-scale facial recognition would threaten the right to anonymity in public spaces. And the collection of such vast personal data must remain strictly regulated.

Another question is the reliability of these AI tools. Their accuracy is still limited, as shown by some police experiments. In the United States, crime prediction software has led to unjustified arrests in underprivileged neighborhoods.

In summary, AI applied to security can provide valuable support for law enforcement. But it must be subject to strict ethical guidelines and humans must retain ultimate control. Entrusting our freedoms to a machine, however intelligent, would be irresponsible. The intelligent cameras at the Olympics highlight the coming century’s dilemma. How to take advantage of technological progress while preserving the essence of our democracies? Finding the right balance between security and freedoms will be the challenge for the years ahead.