NZ Police are piloting a swarm of new, hi-tech tools. We deserve to know more about them

There are many unanswered questions about how technologies are being used, why they are necessary, and whether they risk infringing on human rights or privacy, write Andrew Chen and Kristiann Allen. The idea of “emergence”, in a philosophical sense, is the notion that a system can have properties, behaviours and naturally forming rules or patterns … Read more

The Bulletin: Alert level one still a long way away

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Alert level one still a long way away, parliament once again closes for the term, and thousands of primary health workers to strike today. Alert level one could still be a long way away, according to the country’s top health official. Dr Ashley Bloomfield fronted the … Read more

The Bulletin: Diverging outcomes from Covid-relief benefit

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Reports show diverging outcomes from Covid-relief benefit, Aucklanders head off at end of lockdown, and police quietly setting up facial recognition system. We’re starting to see a wide divergence in outcomes from the Covid-19 Income Relief Payment benefit, introduced at the start of the pandemic. At … Read more

Facial recognition technology is here. New Zealand’s law is nowhere near ready

Without a strong legal and ethical framework and clear policy for use, FRT can have grave implications for individual and collective rights, writes Nessa Lynch. Automated facial recognition technology, which involves the use of an algorithm to match a facial image to one already stored in a system, is used in automated passport control and … Read more

The Bulletin: A day of concern about police overreach

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: A day of concern about police overreach, budget to be announced today, and rules on tangi changed after pressure. Plenty of concerns have been raised about the powers that police will hold under enabling legislation for alert level two. The bill to make level two possible … Read more

Actually Interesting: A machine can make decisions, but can it ever understand why?

In the second episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s new monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Russell Brown explores how aware machines really are. Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below. To download this episode right click and save.  Here’s a thing to understand: artificial intelligence isn’t magic and machines … Read more