This ‘College Protester’ Isn’t Real. It’s an AI-Powered Undercover Bot for Cops

American police departments on the border with Mexico are using AI-generated online personas designed to interact with and collect intelligence on political activists, protesters, and suspected trafficking gangs.
New York-based company, Massive Blue, is selling the technology to police and border agents for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The product, called Overwatch, markets “AI-powered force multiplier for public safety” that can “deploys lifelike virtual agents, which infiltrate and engage criminal networks across various channels”, according to the company’s own publicity material.
It has signed a $360,000 contract with Pinal County, Arizona.
The county has paid for the contract via an anti-human trafficking grant from the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
A report by Arizona station, KSAV quoted a Pinal County spokesman as saying that to date the product has not contributed to any arrests.
A spokesperson for Yuma County Arizona told the station: “it did not meet our needs”.

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