Mall of America’s Facial Recognition: Safety or Surveillance?

This week, Robert and Haley discuss the Mall of America’s decision to adopt AI-driven facial recognition technology—and the heated debate it’s sparked. While the mall argues that AI-powered surveillance will improve security, critics, including privacy advocates and Minnesota lawmakers, worry about potential privacy violations and racial profiling.

We dive into the details: The system, built by Corsight, scans video feeds to identify "persons of interest" like wanted criminals or missing children. MOA claims the technology is over 99% accurate, but accuracy issues and civil liberties concerns loom large. Bipartisan state lawmakers have condemned the move, calling it an attack on privacy that could lead to harassment and false arrests.

With the mall promising multiple layers of human review before acting on alerts, Robert and Haley examine whether this tech represents a new era of safety or a slippery slope for surveillance. Tune in to understand the pros, cons, and future implications of AI-fueled facial recognition in public spaces.