Berlin and Mannheim train violence recognition software on staged and AI-generated videos
Berlin and Mannheim train violence recognition software on staged and AI-generated videos
In Berlin and Mannheim, police use artificial intelligence to analyze behavior in public places. Due to a lack of real examples of violence, systems are trained on staged fights and AI-generated videos, which can lead to recognition errors and discrimination.
At Kottbusser Tor square in Berlin, 30 cameras have been installed that analyze human behavior using artificial intelligence. The system is designed to automatically identify potential crimes. To train the software, developers use video recordings marked to indicate which behavior is considered normal and which should trigger an alert.
The main problem with training the system is the lack of real examples of violence in public places. In Mannheim, police have already conducted 2,000 staged fights to train the software and plan 8,000 more. These videos are classified as “Verschlusssachen” (classified materials) and are not subject to disclosure. Berlin chose a different approach: instead of staged fights, they use videos generated by artificial intelligence. Staige, the software developer, claims this allows expanding the training dataset without using local data and while complying with data protection requirements.
Computer science professor Heiko Paulheim from Mannheim points to the risks of this approach. If training data is not authentic, system quality decreases. Software trained on generated videos can reproduce distortions: an excess of dynamic scenes, preference for young people, stereotypes. This leads to two types of errors: the system fails to recognize real problems (for example, a purse snatching from an elderly woman) or falsely triggers on harmless behavior (a person in a hood simply jogging.
Additionally, the Berlin system continuously learns from the movements of people at Kottbusser Tor. Police officers mark whether each alert was justified, and this data is used for further optimization. Human movement is unique like a fingerprint. In December 2024, the Berlin government authorized training behavioral analysis software on personal data and transferring this data to software manufacturers.
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