Safety and the techno-mediated city: Lessons from Bengaluru’s AI-powered CCTV network

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstractAcademic

Abstract

Ample scholarly work shows low correlations between the use of CCTV cameras and crime reduction.
Research also highlights other possible harmful social effects, such as hypervisibility, biased profiling, and
discrimination against certain social groups. Despite those observations, the use of CCTV cameras is
expanding and complemented by advanced video analytics using artificial intelligence (AI). In Bengaluru –
one of India’s prime tech hubs, authorities are expanding AI-powered CCTV surveillance systems
emphasizing women safety. Given CCTV’s harmful effects, how safety is understood in these contexts is
little studied. In this paper, we attempt to unpack how the notion of safety is evoked within the Bengaluru
Safe City Project (BSCP). BSCP is part of India’s Safe City Project, which aims to improve women safety
in selected Indian cities through technological intervention. Analyzing key documents from BSCP actors
describing the intended purpose and technological capabilities of the planned and partially implemented
CCTV system, we identify three key storylines surrounding urban safety. Those storylines are a) women
should be protected from men (safety from physical and sexual violence), b) public places are inherently
dangerous for women (safety from potential harm), and even within a high-tech urban environment, c)
women are responsible for their own safety (safety in your own hands). These storylines reveal that technomediated
urban environments, even when particularly tailored for women safety, do not provide guaranteed
safety but conditional safety at the most. Those findings elucidate the socio-technical imaginations that
undergird the project. Rather than promoting a promise of greater safety, the project and the ways in which
it invokes safety reinscribes asymmetrical power dynamics infused with patriarchal beliefs that we show to
filter through the implementation of the technological system. In concluding the paper, we reflect on how
those empirical findings relate to prevalent challenges with conceptualizing CCTV and other AI-powered
surveillance systems as driven by algorithmic care.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 8 Apr 2024
EventAI Experiences and Public Safety Symposium 2024 - Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Duration: 8 Apr 20249 Apr 2024
https://dutchsurveillancestudies.org/2024/07/09/from-demonstrations-to-the-dutch-childcare-benefits-scandal-ai-and-algorithms-are-everywhere-but-how-are-they-being-perceived/

Conference

ConferenceAI Experiences and Public Safety Symposium 2024
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityRotterdam
Period8/04/249/04/24
Internet address

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