This is not the first time Artificial Intelligence is used for monitoring or processing public information. In past researchers have suggested design for a smart computer that they believe will be able to detect insider trading fraud within the stock exchange almost instantly. Now EU has funded a five-year research program, called Project Indect, aims to develop computer programs which act as “agents” to monitor and process information.
According to the official website for Project Indect, which began this year, its main objectives include “to develop a platform for the registration and exchange of operational data, acquisition of multimedia content, intelligent processing of all information and automatic detection of threats and recognition of abnormal behaviour or violence”.It talks of the “construction of agents assigned to continuous and automatic monitoring of public resources such as: web sites, discussion forums, usenet groups, file servers, p2p [peer-to-peer] networks as well as individual computer systems, building an internet-based intelligence gathering system, both active and passive”.
