Influencers may crave attention by occupation, but a new AI experiment shows they can't always control their admirers' gazes. The AI surveillance video became part of Belgian artist Dries Depoorter's project The Follower, which he unveiled on social media. In the process, it offers a glimpse at the terrifying capabilities of automated surveillance. Capturing people in this way, unsuspecting yet fully public, feels like witnessing something intimate but also shameless. Depoorter analyzed feeds from open cameras, which offer easy access to images of public places.
The new project using open access cameras and Instagram influencers will seem too real. The experiment is the brainchild of Dries Depoorter, a Belgian artist who previously caught our attention by monitoring politicians using phones at work. Depoorter programmed an artificial intelligence system that uses open-access video footage from cameras stationed around the world to spot people. Depoorter, however, will reveal that The Follower came about out of boredom as he remotely observed the habits of an apparent influencer. While attention-seeking influencers may garner little sympathy, anyone can enter the crosshairs of AI surveillance.
AI art project tracks down influencers:
The Follower is a creepy art project that tracks Influencers with open cameras and AI and shows how their Instagram photos were taken. Depoorter first recorded weeks of footage captured at Insta-friendly landmarks. Next, he scraped Instagram for photos tagged with the camera locations. After that, he scraped all Instagram photos tagged with the locations of the open cameras and then used artificial intelligence software to cross-reference the Instagram photos with the recorded footage.
The Belgian artist says that the software focused on Instagram influencers who have over 100,000 followers. They were then matched to the film of their Instagram photos being taken. The concept works by recording a selection of open cameras for weeks and then using AI to scan through all Instagram photos tagged with the locations corresponding to the open camera recordings. The side-by-side comparisons reveal how much thought and time go into capturing the perfect shot.
Initially, The Follower may appear to merely mock the drudgery behind picture-picture Instagram posts. But Depoorter's track record suggests he is aiming at a more dangerous target. The project was launched on September 12 and the first video from the project was released on Monday with footage from just 10 days. Using AI video analysis, the artist could then identify influencers in the collected videos and show the scenes of influencers' pictures.
Depoorter recorded streams from open access cameras for weeks. Depoorter is known for creating interactive installations, apps, and games around themes like privacy, artificial intelligence, surveillance & social media. As privacy activists have noted, his monitoring system is benign compared to what companies are already selling to governments. The chilling part of it is being surveilled by these open cameras which anyone can access.
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