Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the issue of AI facial recognition technology being used to catch, to capture, detain a foreigner on the streets in Thailand. I thought of making this video because a viewer sent me this, tip of the hat to that person, and this is actually I believe from a Facebook group it's called Les Française de Phuket, so it's basically for French folks down in Phuket but this is in English. So I'm going to throw this up on screen, quoting directly: "FACIAL RECOGNITION IN ACTION IN PHUKET. Quoting directly: "A French tourist was arrested while walking along Bangla Road in Patong after being identified by an AI facial recognition mobile camera for overtaking" - they say overtaking, I think they mean overstaying - "for overstaying his 42 day Visa." I don't think it's a 42-day Visa, it sounds like it's a 42 day overstay. That said, quoting further: "As in many Asian countries, facial recognition is being implemented. In this case it's a mobile camera, but several still cameras are operating in Patong linked to AI and a database of Immigration and Police (including the Interpol file). In this particular case, the proximity to a Police Station led to the arrest." 

So yeah, this camera saw this person, did biometric reading on it, used AI, and then informed the police station. They knew he was close by so they went out and arrested him, and presumably detained the person and probably deported them. Based on current Blacklisting laws, if you are found to be on overstay by even one day and detained within the Kingdom rather than on your way out for voluntary departure, you are immediately and summarily subject to a five-year ban; you are on The Blacklist for 5 years. So, I would presume that was the penalty that was likely meted out in this situation. Now I can't say that for certain, but I would presume that. 

But more to the point with this video is yeah, here we are. I mean this is digital AI surveillance; I mean that's what it is. China has had this for years. I was very much hoping we weren't going to see this kind of thing in Thailand. I know there are those that will be out there, they will say, "well he was overstaying". At a certain point, shouldn't common sense kind of kick in where we say, "hey is it a good thing that just walking around and being you can lead to your arrest because a computer tells somebody to do so?" I have done a video recently where I talked about the fact that AI is wrong sometimes, and in that video I remember talking about how DNA testing at one time, people used to remember that it was not foolproof and then now everybody just accepts it as foolproof. When somebody says, "oh there's DNA evidence", it's just like immediately well that's just means summary judgment; just open and shut case, that person's guilty. Well not necessarily, for a variety of different reasons. DNA is not necessarily dispositive. Just like AI makes mistakes. I made a recent video talking about a woman who went out and used ChatGPT as her attorney. ChatGPT just made up an entire body of law and made up a bunch of decisions by different judges, made up judges and the woman got subjected to major counter suits because she has filed frivolous lawsuits based on nonsense. This is the issue with AI. Again, we are viewing it through the lens of "oh my goodness! This amazing technology is here to save us all."  There are great things about it. 

Dave Callum, I follow him on Twitter quite a bit, he's all over YouTube, he is a Professor at Cornell, he's talked about AI and he said, look, it is much like the internet or Excel spreadsheets; it's another tool. It is not the end all be all of our lives, and in fact, the more that we let this technology basically take the reins if you will of monitoring us and telling us how our law enforcement systems are going to be conducted, I think we are leading into a very dystopian place. Now again I understand that there are certain aspects of this, I'm sure law enforcement feels like hey we have got an overstayer and we found him because of this AI. Yes, but for all the positives there are also deep negatives to this, and imagine if this isn't the right guy too. As discussed again in another video, AI has gotten it wrong before. There was a guy that went into, I think it was in Las Vegas, it was a casino and the person eventually ended up being arrested for trespassing because they said he was banned and that the AI and the cameras had seen him and then they had identified him and he wasn't the person he claimed to be even though he had ID, and he was arrested for trespassing. It was a wrongful arrest, and it was being done by this AI which heretofore has not existed. We don't have any laws or regulations for how to deal with this, especially how to deal with it if it is wrong. What if this guy isn't the right guy? I not saying that that's true but it's possible. What if he isn't the right guy? Now he's going to get deported and blacklisted for 5 years. Now I expect that they can verify the person's identity, and the person's Immigration status once they had them apprehended and again a foreigner doesn't have an unfettered right to be in Thailand, so I get that perhaps no legal violation has occurred here. But this is really eerie stuff and it is something we should not be just having it rolled out without questioning it at all. I think it is bad policy for everyone here in the Kingdom of Thailand.