AI surveillance

Walmart says neither the company nor its AI shopping assistant uses customers' personal information to set prices, pushing back on concerns about personalized or surveillance-based pricing at the retail giant. The statement comes amid growing scrutiny of how retailers deploy AI tools and shopper data. It remains unclear whether regulators or consumer groups are investigating the practice.

Newly revealed classified estimates indicate the National Security Agency is spending billions of dollars testing artificial intelligence models, according to a report drawing on internal figures. The disclosure points to the scale of US intelligence investment in AI evaluation, and online discussion is focused on what the money covers, oversight of the spending, and privacy implications of spy agencies testing commercial models.

Big Tech is betting on smart glasses and AI-powered gadgets as its next major product category, but the devices face significant privacy challenges. Always-on cameras, microphones and AI assistants that continuously collect ambient data raise questions about consent, surveillance in public spaces and how companies will safeguard the information these wearables gather. The debate centres on whether consumers will accept the trade-off between convenience and constant data collection.

Reporter Ken Klippenstein published a story claiming federal authorities have viewed critics of artificial intelligence as potential foreign agents. The report suggests scrutiny of American commentators involved in the AI policy debate, framing their criticism as possibly coordinated from abroad. Details about which agencies are involved or who was targeted have not been independently confirmed, and readers online are debating the implications for free speech and AI policy discourse.

The Pentagon is asking for $30.3 million over five years to develop an AI-powered lie detection system that can analyze body language remotely, without physical contact. The program, called Polygraph Next, is included in the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency's 2027 budget request. Commenters are raising concerns about the privacy implications and scientific reliability of automated deception detection, noting that traditional polygraph accuracy is already contested.

A new report describes an AI model designed to monitor illicit activity on the Bitcoin blockchain, detecting how criminal transactions have evolved from simple transfers into complex, hidden networks designed to evade detection. The story, carried by Bioengineer.org, highlights growing use of machine learning in blockchain forensics as regulators and researchers try to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated laundering techniques.

The Pentagon is asking for $30 million to develop an AI-powered lie detection system, according to MIT Technology Review. The proposal would fund technology that uses artificial intelligence to assess deception, raising questions among readers about the scientific reliability of such tools and the privacy and civil liberties implications of deploying AI lie detectors in security or military screening.

A new shirt printed with digital camouflage patterns has been unveiled, designed to confuse AI-powered surveillance systems and prevent the wearer from being recognised by facial recognition cameras. Anti-surveillance fashion aims to exploit weaknesses in computer vision, and the release has drawn attention to growing public concern over ubiquitous camera tracking and the reach of automated monitoring in public spaces.