Argentina’s security forces have announced plans to use artificial intelligence to “predict future crimes”, but experts have warned that the move could jeopardize citizens’ rights.
The country’s far-right president, Javier Milley, created an artificial intelligence unit for law enforcement applications this week. The bill says the unit will “use machine learning algorithms to analyze past crime data and predict future crimes.” It would also deploy facial recognition software to identify “wanted” people, crawl social media and analyze security camera footage in real time to spot suspicious activity.
The Security Ministry said the new unit would help “detect potential threats, identify the movements of criminal groups or anticipate unrest”, but the Minority Report-style resolution has raised alarm bells among rights groups.
Experts are concerned that certain groups in society could be subject to disproportionate surveillance through the technology, and have also expressed concerns about who, and how many, security forces will have access to the information.
Amnesty International warned that the measures could violate human rights. “Mass surveillance affects freedom of expression, as people may self-censor or refrain from sharing their ideas or criticisms if they suspect that security forces are monitoring everything they comment, post or publish,” said Mariela Belschi, executive director of Amnesty International Argentina.
Meanwhile, Argentina’s Research Center for Freedom of Expression and Access to Information said such technology has historically been used to “profilse academics, journalists, politicians and activists” and that without oversight it threatens privacy.
Milley, a far-right libertarian, took office late last year and promised to take a tough stance on crime. Security Minister Patricia Bullrich has reportedly sought to emulate El Salvador’s controversial prison model, and the administration has moved toward a more militarized security policy, according to the Center for Law and Sociology. The government has also cracked down on protests, with riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at close range in recent days at demonstrators, and authorities have threatened to sanction parents who bring children to demonstrations.
The latest measures have sparked outrage in a country with a dark history of state repression: Under the brutal 1976-83 dictatorship, an estimated 30,000 people were forcibly disappeared, some thrown alive from planes in so-called “death flights”, thousands were tortured and hundreds of children were abducted.
A security ministry source said the new unit would operate under the current legal framework, including provisions of the Personal Information Protection Act, adding that it would focus on applying AI, data analytics and machine learning to identify criminal patterns and trends in the ministry’s database.
