MTA wants AI to watch NYC subways for safety
The MTA is looking to bring artificial intelligence into New York City's subway system, hoping it can spot threats in real time by analyzing video from more than 15,000 cameras across stations, trains, and busses.
The idea is for AI to catch things like weapons, suspicious packages, or risky crowd surges—stuff that's tough for humans to monitor nonstop.
Why now?
After past tech failures—like a video outage during a 2022 subway shooting—the MTA wants smarter surveillance that doesn't just rely on people watching screens all day.
They think AI could help spot problems faster and take some pressure off staff.
What about privacy?
Not everyone's thrilled. Privacy advocates are worried this could lead to more invasive public monitoring and point out that previous surveillance tech has had plenty of false alarms.
Even so, the MTA says boosting safety is their main goal as they move ahead with the plan.