AI can track your location from social media photos
What's the story
A new study has revealed that artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to track people's locations through their social media photos. The research was conducted by McAfee, an antivirus software company, which tested two publicly available AI models on over 21,000 travel images. One model correctly identified the location of 91% of the images while the other had an accuracy rate of 87%.
Technology insight
AI gives criminals an added advantage
The AI models tested by McAfee were able to identify locations from travel photos by picking up on details like background, architecture, signage, and lighting.
This capability gives criminals an added advantage in their attempts to defraud people through text messages or emails.
Vonny Gamot, EMEA head at McAfee, explained that "What AI does is give context... so that makes the scam [and] makes the threats credible."
Model performance
AI's accuracy in identifying locations
The study found that AI is more effective at identifying locations from photos with recognizable landmarks, skylines, signage, and street markings. Even food stalls and storefronts can help pinpoint where a picture was taken.
However, the accuracy of AI drops for pictures taken on beaches or in hotel rooms.
Still, McAfee reports that it can likely identify which country these images were taken in, enough for scammers to use this information to make their approaches more convincing.
Case studies
How the AI was able to identify locations
In one case, a staff member tested ChatGPT to identify a picture of a river with some trees in the foreground.
The AI correctly identified it as Hastings-on-Hudson, an area in New York state.
Another picture of flowers was identified as Keukenhof gardens in the Netherlands.
The AI deduced that the layout of tulips and smaller blue flowers planted between them meant it was these famous gardens.
Scam tactics
Criminals can use this information to make their scams convincing
Criminals can use the information gathered by AI to make their scams more convincing.
They could claim that your card was flagged for unusual activity while you were in a certain location or that they are calling after your stay at a specific hotel.
They could also say they want to confirm your identity due to an attempted login from that country.