India's AI to catch mask-less people at a festival attended by millions sounds pointless

The latest tech news.

Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW.

Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW.

According to a report from the Indian Express, officials have built an AI to help spot people at the event who avoid wearing masks.

Officials added that during the initial few days of the festival that formally started on April 1, they caught 350 folks not wearing masks through these cameras, with a total of 1,500 fines imposed during that period for breaking COVID-19 safety norms.

Uttarakhand: People take a holy dip in Ganga river at Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar

Plus, cops said today that it might be difficult to issue fines on the days of Shahi Snan (which translates to ‘royal bath’) where millions of people gather on the banks of the Ganga to take a dip in the holy river

While AI-powered cameras might help cops catch some mask-less people, they won’t stop people gathering in hordes and violating social distancing norms