AI-powered police body cameras tested on 'high-risk' watchlist in Edmonton raise ethical alarms

Summary

Police in Edmonton, Canada are piloting Axon body cameras equipped with facial recognition that can flag roughly 7,000 people on a 'high risk' watch list, reviving a technology many agencies had previously shunned over civil rights and accuracy concerns. The Associated Press reports that Axon, which once paused facial recognition deployments after ethics board pushback, now frames the Canadian trial as research, while critics warn of opaque oversight, potential bias and mission creep in real-time biometric surveillance.