美国国家公共电台 NPR--How AI is revolutionizing how governments conduct surveillance

How AI is revolutionizing how governments conduct surveillance

Transcript¹

Artificial intelligence is getting attention for its potential to bring huge changes to many different fields in the future, but experts say the AI revolution in surveillance is already here.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The world is full of cameras - on our phones, the corners of buildings, even satellites whizzing overhead. They're taking way more pictures than humans can look at. But now there's help from artificial intelligence, and intelligence agencies all over the world are getting in on the action. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel has more on how AI is revolutionizing surveillance.

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE²: Corey Jaskolski is the CEO of an AI vision company called Synthetaic. He's basically teaching machines how to look at images.

COREY JASKOLSKI: The way I think about it is, effectively, what we've come up with is a way to search massive amounts of data, almost like a search engine but for imagery, for visuals.

BRUMFIEL: It can work for everything from cellphone pictures to security camera footage. To show me, Jaskolski pulls open his laptop and brings up a top-down image of a city.

JASKOLSKI: What you're looking at here is high-resolution, aerial imagery of Milwaukee.

BRUMFIEL: Cities like Milwaukee regularly take this kind of imagery to check on zoning roads and other things. Normally, humans have to spend hours scrolling⁴ around. But Synthetaic's latest AI can find whatever we're looking for. We zoom⁵ in on a road.

What about - like, that looks like a delivery van or something.

JASKOLSKI: Yellow delivery van?

BRUMFIEL: Yellow delivery van.

JASKOLSKI: Sure.

BRUMFIEL: Jaskolski draws a little box around the yellow van, and suddenly the program starts finding more.

Oh, my gosh. They look like - I mean, that looks like exactly the same van all over town, right?

We scroll³ over to a busy intersection⁶ with another one of the vans moving between a lot of other vehicles. There's a white van, a yellow garbage truck. But the program only marks the yellow van.

JASKOLSKI: We've taught it to be a yellow van detector⁷.

BRUMFIEL: I mean, I do have to say there is something creepy and Big Brother-ish about this. In 30 seconds, you've literally⁸ found a good dozen yellow vans in a city. And you can imagine how long it would take a human squinting⁹ at all those images like...

JASKOLSKI: No, that's right. That's right. I mean, it is a state change in the ability to find things quickly in large data sets.

BRUMFIEL: AI has been getting attention for its potential to bring huge changes to lots of different fields in the near future, but the AI revolution in surveillance is happening now. For decades, cameras have been watching over cities, businesses and even homes. But that footage has mainly been stored locally, and reviewing it took a pair of human eyes. Not anymore. AI systems can now hunt for a van in a city, scan license¹⁰ plates and even faces in real time. The system being developed by Synthetaic has many possible uses. An environmental group, for example, is trying to use it to track large livestock¹¹ operations globally to monitor greenhouse gas emissions¹². Synthetaic's system really can find anything you want anywhere in the world.

JASKOLSKI: We've run searches, as an example, across the entire eastern seaboard of Russia for ships, and we can find every ship in a few minutes. It's pretty remarkable¹³.

BRUMFIEL: Being able to scan the vast coastline of a nation like Russia is why this kind of technology has caught the eye of big government intelligence agencies. Watching everything that needs to be watched has always been a labor-intensive business. Even in George Orwell's famous novel "1984," the all-seeing thought police struggled to keep up.

GREGORY ALLEN: In "1984," there weren't enough people to watch all the surveillance cameras all of the time. But artificial intelligence can watch all of the surveillance cameras all of the time.

BRUMFIEL: Gregory Allen is director of AI and Advanced Technology at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In the digital age, intelligence agencies are drowning in photos and videos.

ALLEN: There's just so much more data being collected than can realistically be analyzed¹⁵ by a human analysis workforce¹⁶.

BRUMFIEL: Nations like China are investing heavily in AI for both domestic and international surveillance. In the U.S., intelligence agencies are already using it, though only to look overseas.

MARK MUNSELL: We do not spy on Americans.

BRUMFIEL: Mark Munsell heads the Data Digital Innovation Directorate of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. It collects and analyzes¹⁷ huge quantities of satellite and drone imagery for the Pentagon. He wants to make very clear that this is not an Orwell novel. At the same time, he says, with a war in Ukraine, tensions rising with China and challenges all over the planet, agencies like his need AI.

MUNSELL: We have about the same amount of humans. And so there's only really one way to keep up with more and more sensors¹⁸, and that's to apply as much automation as we can.

BRUMFIEL: Munsell's agency is currently using a set of AI tools called Maven to analyze¹⁴ several different kinds of imagery. It could let human analysts¹⁹ quickly spot potential targets, like tanks in a field or planes at an airbase. The exact details of how it works and what they're looking at remains²⁰ classified.

MUNSELL: It has several lines of effort, we'll call it. I think that's the term that we use.

BRUMFIEL: But Maven has also stirred controversy²¹. Google was involved with the project until its workers launched a protest over growing fears of weaponized AI. In a letter, they wrote, quote, "building this technology to assist the U.S. government and military surveillance and potentially lethal²² outcomes is not acceptable." It got thousands of signatures, and the tech giant eventually pulled out of Maven. Gregory Allen, who's been watching AI change the face of surveillance, says it's unrealistic to think the technology will go away.

ALLEN: Yeah. I mean, China is not going to give this up under any circumstances.

BRUMFIEL: At the same time, he says he thinks AI should be regulated, especially domestically.

ALLEN: I think it's entirely²³ appropriate that there be safeguards and restrictions²⁴.

BRUMFIEL: As these tools grow ever more powerful and more available, many experts believe it's time to strengthen laws around using AI in surveillance.

Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF EVOCATIV'S "TURMOIL")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 scroll   

n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡

参考例句：

• As I opened the scroll,a panorama of the Yellow River unfolded.我打开卷轴时，黄河的景象展现在眼前。
• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements.他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。

4 scrolling   

n.卷[滚]动法，上下换行v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的现在分词 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Another important detail required by auto-scrolling is a time delay. 自动滚屏需要的另一个重要细节是时间延迟。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• In 2D visualization and drawing applications, vertical and horizontal scrolling are common. 在二维的可视化及绘图应用中，垂直和水平滚动非常普遍。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

5 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

6 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

7 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

9 squinting   

斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• "More company," he said, squinting in the sun. "那边来人了，"他在阳光中眨巴着眼睛说。
• Squinting against the morning sun, Faulcon examined the boy carefully. 对着早晨的太阳斜起眼睛，富尔康仔细地打量着那个年轻人。

10 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

11 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

12 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

13 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

14 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

15 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

17 analyzes   

v.分析( analyze的第三人称单数 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• This approach analyzes management by studying experience usually through cases. 这个学派通常从实例获得经验，用以分析管理。 来自辞典例句
• The econometrician analyzes statistical data. 经济计量学者要分析统计材料。 来自辞典例句

18 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

19 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

20 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

21 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

22 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

23 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

24 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制