The Follower: Using open cameras and AI to find how an Instagram photo is taken (driesdepoorter.be)

Article summary

The Follower project uses open cameras and AI to find how an Instagram photo is taken by comparing recorded footage with Instagram photos tagged with the locations of the open cameras. The project recorded a selection of open cameras for weeks and scraped all Instagram photos tagged with those locations. The software then compares the Instagram photos with the recorded footage to find matches. The project's results are published on social media and YouTube.

Main themes

• surveillance
• privacy
• AI
• open cameras
• social media
• public spaces
• data collection
• security

What commenters say

• The use of open cameras and AI to track people's movements and activities is creepy and raises concerns about privacy.
• There is no expectation of privacy in public spaces, and people are already being recorded by hundreds of cameras every day.
• The systematic analysis of video footage with AI is more concerning than traditional surveillance methods.
• The ability to connect video footage to real-life people's social media accounts enables stalking and other malicious activities.
• The technology used in the project is not new and has been used in various forms of surveillance for years.
• The scale of data collection and analysis made possible by AI and open cameras is unprecedented and alarming.
• The project's methods are not reliable and may produce false positives or be prone to manipulation.
• The use of AI and open cameras for surveillance has the potential to be used for both good and evil purposes, depending on the context and intent.