Drones and AI cameras proposed for Times Square

The casino giant Caesars Entertainment and REIT-corporation SL Green Realty proposed to increase the number of police on Times Square, deploy surveillance drones and install artificial intelligence-powered cameras.

The companies are seeking a license to build a casino in New York City. In early 2022, state lawmakers approved the Times Square area as one of the sites for the project.

Caesars Entertainment and SL Green Realty are seeking to enlist local restaurant owners, retailers and builders in support of the project.

In their letter, they pledged to devote a portion of gaming revenue to improving safety and sanitation in the district. According to them, the funding could be used to more than double the number of police and to deploy surveillance drones.

Additionally, the letter said, the casino on the square would lead to the installation of about 50 new AI-powered cameras, “strategically positioned across Times Square”. Each such device can track more than 85,000 people per day.

The new casino could have a significant economic impact on the district and the city as a whole. Tourists and New Yorkers had been slow to return to Times Square after the coronavirus pandemic, partly due to recent fears about rising crime.

Yet experts say that expanding surveillance is a bad idea.

According to Albert Fox Cahn, the head of the civil-liberties watchdog STOP, adding a fleet of AI cameras and drones would deprive people of the ability to even walk down the street without supervision.

«The system will waste money, become ripe for abuse, and do nothing to address real criminals», he told Gizmodo.

A SL Green Realty spokesperson, Jack Lynch, said the company is working closely with the community and former NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton. He noted the former officer helped develop a plan to find the best way to turn Times Square “into a safer place for everyone”.

Caesars Entertainment did not respond to comment requests.

Earlier in September, the San Francisco City Council voted to grant law enforcement access to private surveillance cameras in real time.

In July, authorities in New Orleans decided to resume using police biometric identification systems.

In February, rights advocates uncovered 25,000 cameras surveilling city residents in public spaces in New York.

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