When this year's Summer Olympics open in Paris, France, next week, about 100 floats carrying the world's top athletes will make their way across the Seine. Some half a million fans will cheer as their country's sports ambassadors pass by the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and travel-book-worthy landmarks. But they won't be the only ones watching. Thousands of CCTV cameras overlooking the river will monitor the proceedings in real time. Behind the scenes, powerful new artificial intelligence models are scouring the footage, looking for signs of danger lurking in the crowds. The controversial new AI-enabled surveillance system, which critics claim could violate the European Union's broader privacy laws, is one of several ways France is using technology to make this year's Olympics one of the most closely monitored in memory.
AI surveillance monitors crowd disturbances
Late last year, the French parliament passed a new law temporarily giving law enforcement the power to use “experimental” artificial intelligence algorithms to monitor public video feeds and provide “real-time crowd analysis.” In practice, the AI detection models will reportedly analyze thousands of CCTV camera feeds, looking for signs of potentially dangerous anomalies among the Olympic crowd. These warning signs could include people brandishing weapons, larger-than-expected crowds, fights or scuffles, abandoned luggage, and more.
France has partnered with a number of technology companies for the AI analysis, including Wintics, Videtics, Orange Business and ChapsVision. Police have already tested the new system in several metro stations, at the Cannes Film Festival and at a packed Depeche Mode concert. Paris Police Chief Laurent Nunez recently said: Reuters He said the concert trial had gone “relatively smoothly” and that the system was “fully prepared” for use during the Olympics.
If the AI model detects a potential threat, it alerts human law enforcement officials, who then decide whether to proceed with further enforcement action. French authorities claim that all of the real-time analysis is done without the use of facial recognition or any other unique biometric identifiers. Instead, law enforcement and their private partners say the model only measures “behavioral” patterns, such as body movements and location. Authorities claim that the AI cannot identify individuals based on their biometric ID.
“It's not a question of recognising a 'Mr X' in a crowd,” French Interior Minister Gérard Darmanin was quoted as saying at a meeting with French lawmakers earlier this year. “It's a question of recognising the situation.”
Olympics to test France's new 'experimental' AI video surveillance
But some critics question whether it's technically possible to perform this kind of AI video analysis without inadvertently collecting and comparing biometric identifiers. Doing so could put France in violation of Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and recently enacted EU AI law. A coalition of 38 European civil society groups argued in an open letter earlier this year that the monitoring of gait, body position and gestures reported by the model could still qualify as biometric markers used to identify specific individuals or groups. If so, the system would violate existing GDPR rules that limit the scope of biometric data collection permitted in public places, the groups argue.
GDPR rules allow for certain exceptions to biometric collection rules for public interest reasons, but human rights groups argue that the permissions granted in the French case were too broad and disproportionate to the apparent threat. Human rights groups and some lawmakers opposed to early passage also worry that the law could set a dangerous precedent for future public surveillance legislation and undermine broader EU efforts to curb AI surveillance. Amnesty International's AI regulation adviser Meher Hakobian said the surveillance powers, even if temporary, “risk turning France into a permanent dystopian surveillance state.” Human Rights Watch, which wrote to French lawmakers opposed to early passage, similarly worries that the law poses “serious threats to civil liberties and democratic principles” and risks further exacerbating racial disparities in law enforcement.
“This proposal would pave the way for the use of intrusive algorithmic video surveillance under the pretext of securing large events,” Human Rights Watch said in the letter. “The mere presence of non-targeted (often referred to as indiscriminate) algorithmic video surveillance in publicly accessible areas could have a chilling effect on fundamental civil freedoms.”
Others worry that the new measures, which are supposedly temporary, will inevitably perpetuate the status quo. The surveillance law officially expires in 2025, but lawmakers can extend it if they want. Supporters of the expanded powers say the measures are necessary to bolster the country's defenses against deadly terrorist attacks, especially since France has seen at least six major attacks in the past two decades, including a series of mass shootings in 2015 that left 130 people dead. After the 2015 attacks, France declared a temporary state of emergency, but it ended up being extended for more than two years.
“This has happened in previous Olympics, in Japan, Brazil and Greece,” Noémie Levant, a digital rights activist at La Quadrature du Net, said in an interview. BBC “The security arrangements that were supposed to have been specially prepared for the special circumstances of the Olympics earlier this year have ended up becoming routine.”
France steps up security for huge outdoor opening ceremony
France's emphasis on security for this year's Olympics goes beyond video surveillance: Authorities have designated the area around the Seine River where the opening ceremony will take place as an “anti-terrorism perimeter,” a roughly 3.7-mile stretch that will be under tight security from July 18 to 26.
Around 20,000 French residents who live and work within the perimeter will reportedly undergo background checks before the games to check for ties to suspected Islamic extremist groups. These individuals will receive a government-issued QR code to use when moving around the area for the duration of the games. Armed police and military contingents, which have become a common sight throughout Paris over the past decade, will reportedly be present in ten times their usual numbers. Local police will reportedly work alongside hundreds of other personnel, including diver bomb experts, counter-terrorism units, and special forces trained to shoot down drone threats.
The Olympics have long been a testing ground for countries around the world to promote and deploy the latest digital surveillance tools. China famously used facial recognition technology for security checks at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the recent Winter Olympics. Russian intelligence officials overseeing the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics similarly monitored the digital communications and internet traffic of athletes and spectators. In all these cases, host countries have justified going beyond their usual surveillance activities as a means of ensuring safety during a time of unprecedented attention. There are legitimate reasons to be concerned: the Olympics have been a source of violence more than once. But host countries have been known to maintain their newfound surveillance capabilities even when the immediate threat fades, a practice that activists say will ultimately erode civil liberties over time. But it remains to be seen whether France will follow the same strategy.
