Police departments are contracting with a company called Massive Blue to use AI-generated online personas to interact with and gather intelligence on suspected criminals and protesters.
404Media reports that a New York-based company called Massive Blue is providing American police departments with an AI-powered surveillance tool that deploys realistic virtual personas to engage with suspected criminals on social media and messaging apps, according to documents obtained by 404 Media through public records requests.
The secretive technology, called Overwatch, is marketed as an “AI-powered force multiplier for public safety” that can infiltrate criminal networks online. Police departments are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for access to these AI-generated personalities or bots that are designed to interact with people suspected of crimes ranging from human trafficking to political activism.
Internal presentations from Massive Blue show examples of the AI personas they offer, which include a “radicalized AI protest persona” posing as a 36-year-old divorced woman interested in activism, a 25-year-old “honeypot” persona of Yemeni descent, a 14-year-old boy “child trafficking” persona, an “AI pimp persona”, and “college protestor” and “recruiter for protests” personas.
The stated goal is for these AI bots to communicate with suspects over text message, social media, and encrypted messaging apps in order to collect intelligence that could potentially lead to arrests. However, the broad scope of targets — including vaguely defined “protesters” alongside criminal suspects — raises concerns about threats to First Amendment rights and overreach in surveillance.
The technology has not led to any known arrests according to public records. The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona did not renew their $10,000 pilot contract, stating the program “did not meet our needs.” Some details about how exactly Overwatch works are being shielded from public disclosure, with Massive Blue citing trade secrets and police claiming it could compromise investigations.
Read more at 404Media here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
