The French National Assembly today approved the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered video surveillance during the upcoming Olympic Games, which will be held in Paris in 2024. The French government assured that this technology will allow it to identify suspicious events or abnormal behavior, in order to guarantee security during the sporting event. Other organizations, on the contrary, warn that the initiative represents a threat to human rights.
The measure, according to the French newspaper the world, must be confirmed in a solemn vote of the deputies next Tuesday, March 28. That day, the entire set of articles of the bill that will regulate the activity of the Olympic Games will be reviewed. If this happens, France will become the first country in the European Union (EU) to implement an AI surveillance system.
“In front of the entire world, France will have to rise to the challenge to face the biggest security challenge in its history,” said Stephane Mazars, a lawmaker for Renaissance, President Emmanuel Macron’s party. In this way, France is ahead of the discussion in the EU, which is also currently debating a law on AI.
Alert for France’s intention to use AI in the Olympic Games
Human rights organizations have already sounded the alarm. Amnesty International said that the decision to use AI in the next Olympic Games could transform France into “a dystopian surveillance state”. He warns that a precedent like this would fuel large-scale violation of human rights in other parts of the bloc.
France “will lead to an all-out assault on the rights to privacy, protest and freedom of assembly and expression“he said today in a release Mher Hakobyan, Advocacy Adviser on AI Regulation at Amnesty International.
The organization called on the European Parliament to urgently take a strong position on banning mass surveillance technologies. Points out that these tools have already been shown to be used disproportionately to target marginalized groups. Among them, immigrant, black and brown people.
A total of 38 organizations of civil society, including Amnesty International, presented at the beginning of March an order French politicians to reject the project that includes the use of AI in the Olympic Games. After the final approval by the deputies, only a veto by the constitutional court would prevent the application of the measure.