Controversial Surveillance Startup Flock Adds AI to Police Tech

Flock Safety said Thursday it will add artificial intelligence to its surveillance products used by US police departments, an update the company said will help make society safer and that privacy advocates have called “abominable.”

The sometimes controversial $7.5 billion Atlanta-based startup is best known for providing customers with automated license plate readers they can use to track vehicles nationwide.

The new tool, Flock Intelligence, lets users investigate crimes using natural language to surface relevant records, images and other data troves. The new, more powerful software surfaces a few dozen relevant images in a few seconds rather than requiring a ...