Police Using AI to Flag ‘Suspicious’ Drivers Who Haven’t Broken Law: Report

Police in the United States are increasingly using artificial intelligence to analyse driving patterns and flag motorists as suspicious, according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The civil liberties organisation warns that automated licence plate readers, which photograph vehicles to log their plates, locations, and visual features, now use AI to generate suspicion rather than merely track known suspects. The ACLU singled out tools supplied by Flock Safety, a major provider of the technology. While a 2024 US Department of Justice report recognised automated licence plate readers as a common tool to find stolen vehicles and trace criminal activity, newer systems can scan vast amounts of travel data to detect patterns deemed suspicious.