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Computer-vision research is hiding its role in creating ‘Big Brother’ technologies

Technologies that can interpret imagery have many potential applications. An innovative study of papers and patents in the field suggests one use case that overrides the others: human surveillance.
By
  1. Jathan Sadowski

    1. Jathan Sadowski is in the Department of Human-Centred Computing at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

We are in the middle of a huge boom in artificial intelligence (AI), with unprecedented investment in research, a supercharged pace of innovation and sky-high expectations. But what is driving this boom? Kalluri et al.1 provide an answer, at least for the sector of computer vision, in which machines automatically glean information from static and moving images. Their map of computer-vision research reveals an intimate relationship between academic research and surveillance applications created for the military, the police and profit-driven corporations.

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Nature 643, 41-42 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-01454-9

References

  1. Kalluri, P. R. et al. Nature 643, 73–79 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Sadowski, J. The Mechanic and the Luddite (Univ. California Press, 2025).

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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