President Donald Trump’s White House is reportedly considering a proposal that would create a new department in the government to try and detect the potential of violent acts using artificial intelligence.
The Washington Post reports that in the wake of deadly shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, earlier this month, Trump has reacted positively to a proposal to create a new department within Health and Human Services called the Health Advanced Research Projects Agency or HARPA.
According to the Post, HARPA would use “breakthrough technologies with high specificity and sensitivity for early diagnosis of neuropsychiatric violence” and lists a number of apps and smart home devices that could be used to collect data including: Fitbits, Amazon Echos, Apple Watches, and Google Homes.
Those pushing the proposal told the Post that it would collect data from volunteers, but given the United States’ notoriously horrendous record with surveillance and technology, the news of the White House considering such a proposal left many people feeling uneasy.
Several people compared it to Minority Report, a movie based on a Philip K. Dick story where people are arrested based on advance knowledge that they are going to commit a crime.
https://twitter.com/AkiPeritz/status/1164521825386336258
this is an absolutely terrible idea based on a willfully incorrect premise that attempts to substitute stigma and surveillance for the solution these ghouls can’t abide: banning the goddamn guns.
— Lindsey Barrett (@LAM_Barrett) August 22, 2019
https://t.co/ghstc4nsVp pic.twitter.com/FoDZtP8bdc
The government’s not going to do gun control so they’re thinking about doing Minority Report instead. https://t.co/L3zIFtU5GS
— Matt Pearce 🦅🇺🇸 (@mattdpearce) August 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1164518818712096769
https://twitter.com/mims/status/1164549200257982471
So … we’re just going to go ahead and do Minority Report for real? If you’re wearing a fitness tracker, might want to check the privacy policy for “research” exemptions. https://t.co/FeV6JqX12c pic.twitter.com/0gQnOa1kCM
— Sam Pfeifle (@SamPfeifle) August 22, 2019
You can read all of the Washington Post report here.
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