"What does it take to become the most successful AI surveillance company in 2025? If you're anything like Flock, the startup selling automatic license plate readers and facial recognition tech to cops, you don't really need much AI at all - just an army of sweatshop workers in the global south. Bombshell new reporting from 404 Media found that Flock, which has its cameras in thousands of US communities, has been outsourcing its AI to gig workers located in the Philippines."
"Workers were tasked with jobs include categorizing vehicles by color, make, and model, transcribing license plates, and labeling various audio clips from car wrecks. In US towns and cities, Flock cameras maintained by local businesses and municipal agencies form centralized surveillance networks for local police, constantly scanning for car license plates and pedestrians who are categorized based on their clothing and possibly by factors like gender and race."
Flock outsourced annotation work for its automatic license plate readers and facial recognition systems to gig workers in the Philippines, relying on humans to label and transcribe surveillance footage. Annotators categorized vehicles by color, make, and model, transcribed license plates, and labeled audio clips from crashes. Flock cameras, deployed in thousands of US communities and often maintained by local businesses or municipal agencies, form centralized surveillance networks used by local police and sometimes shared with ICE. Screenshots for annotators contained license plates from multiple states. Comparable AI companies have similarly relied on low-paid international labor to produce consumer-facing products.
Read at Futurism
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