For the Sake of Security: The Advance of Facial Recognition in South America
This project was supported with the A.I.Accountability Fellowship by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and is a joint project with writer Karen Naundorf.
A scandal unfolding in Argentina shows the dangers of implementing facial recognition—even with laws and limits in place.
South America is a continent struggling with security problems. In this context, an increasing number of policymakers are turning to artificial intelligence to fight and prevent crime. The use of AI in public spaces, such as facial recognition technology, receives relatively little media coverage. What causes heated discussions in Europe and the U.S., many South Americans silently accept. This is why we took a closer look at pilot projects in Argentina and Brazil, taking into account the potential benefits and possible harms.
For this project, we combined journalistic research and a visual approach. Artificial intelligence is abstract, hard to grasp, and mostly invisible. This produces an extra challenge: How can you visualize the invisible? Both traditional documentary storytelling and artistic photographic intervention are part of the project.
Sun sets above the obelisk, where cameras are placed on the top and 9 de Julio avenue in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Photographer: Sarah Pabst The lines symbolize the invisible constant surveillance.
A resident of Buenos Aires’s face is digitally manipulated to hide the identity in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday, June 9, 2023. Judge Andres Gallardo suspects that the city of Buenos Aires has created a database with photos of all residents of Greater Buenos Aires.
False-positive Guillermo Ibarrola stands for a portrait at the Retiro train station, where he was arrested, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Thursday, October 13, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
Security and justice minister of the city of Buenos Aires, Marcelo D´Alessandro, sits for a portrait in his office in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Thursday, November 3, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
A collage of people (politicians, economists, human rights activists, journalists) whose biometric data was requested by the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Monday, October 31, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
A surveillance camera in the Almagro neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Monday, October 31, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
Citizen walk through the financial district in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
City police officers monitor surveillance cameras in the main monitoring center of the city in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday, November 4, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
Lawyer Tomas Griffa of CELS stands for a portrait in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday, October 13, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
Judge Roberto Andrés Gallardo, who ran the case against the city of Buenos Aires until it was taken away from him, sits in his office in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday, October 21, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
Politician, member of parlament and daughter of disappeared during the dictatorship Victoria Montenegro stands for a portrait the Legislation of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Monday, November 28, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
Punchholes on the backside of photos in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Monday, October 31, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
Intervention of biometric portraits of the photographer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Monday, October 31, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
False-positive Leo Colombo Viña stands for a portrait in front of a surveillance publicity of the city in the subway of the center of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday, October 21, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
A monitoring center of the city police at the obelisk in the center of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Thursday, October 13, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
Dr. Rodrigo Iglesias, lawyer and activist for ODIA (observatory for informatic rights) holds the case against the city of Buenos Aires in Quilmes, Argentina, on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
Judge Roberto Andrés Gallardo, who ran the case against the city of Buenos Aires until it was taken away from him, sits in his office in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday, October 21, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
The camera that registered false-positive Guillermo Ibarrola at the Retiro train station in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Thursday, October 13, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
Traveler enter the Retiro train station that is surveilled with face recognition cameras in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Thursday, October 13, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst
Pedestrians on Corrientes Avenue in the center of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Thursday, October 13, 2022. Photographer: Sarah Pabst