A look at Banjo, which offers Palantir-like tools to flag emergencies, crime, and more using AI and has a 5-year deal with Utah and access to surveillance data
it's off the charts, building a total surveillance state. https://www.vice.com/... Emily Coleman / @editoremilye : Well, this is a nightmare. https://twitter.com/... Robert Scoble / @scobleizer : This company is doing wild new AI-based security which is both scary and interesting. AI's can see patterns that humans can't and can see them fast. Worth reading this article to understand some of the Spatial Computing technologies that are coming. https://twitter.com/... Abeba Birhane / @abebab : Dear God! People really lose their sense of reasoning when they hear any mention of “artificial intelligence ”, don't they?! https://twitter.com/... Kaz Weida / @kazweida : “Utah has given an artificial intelligence company real-time access to state traffic cameras, CCTV and “public safety” cameras, 911 emergency systems, etc. to detect anomalies.” Not super stoked to live on the bleeding edge of the surveillance state. 👀 https://www.vice.com/... Robert Zacny / @robzacny : At a time when crime rates are extremely low, Utah has decided to allow a private company unprecedented access to as much of the state's surveillance apparatus as possible, and to give its algorithm the power to direct police. https://www.vice.com/... @alfredwkng : mass surveillance without evidence that it works continues to be paid for with taxpayer money, and this investigation shows it on a larger scale than anything else i've seen: https://www.vice.com/... Joseph Cox / @josephfcox : Banjo started as another social media company, scraping feeds from Facebook etc to show what everyone was talking about in an area. Then Banjo pivoted to law enforcement, and combining that data with much more https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/... Joseph Cox / @josephfcox : There's very little information or evidence on how effective Banjo's AI system really is. Even the office of the Attorney General, which has used it, is still waiting for case studies from Banjo on instances where it actually helped https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/... Matthew Gault / @mjgault : The state of Utah has given an artificial intelligence company real-time access to state traffic cameras, CCTV and “public safety” cameras, 911 emergency systems, location data for state-owned vehicles, and other sensitive data. https://www.vice.com/... April Glaser / @aprilaser : Local laws restricting how police can use surveillance technologies can help prevent this type of mass, secretive deployment https://www.vice.com/... Rebecca Crow / @katsandcrows : “The company, called Banjo, says that it's combining this data with information collected from social media, satellites, and other apps, and claims its algorithms “detect anomalies” in the real world.” https://twitter.com/... Samantha Cole / @samleecole : every single paragraph of this story is horrifying, so much so that you should just read it; twitter won't do it justice https://www.vice.com/... @stopspyingny : WE 👏 NEED 👏 SURVEILLANCE 👏 OVERSIGHT 👏 LAWS https://twitter.com/... Non Seasonal Ryan / @boynamedshit : The dystopian future is bad enough without the thing crushing us under its boot heel being called fucking Banjo https://twitter.com/... @vice : New: Banjo is applying artificial intelligence to government-owned surveillance and traffic cameras across the entire state of Utah to tell police about “anomalies.” https://www.vice.com/... @privacyproject : “As with other algorithmic crime systems, there is little public oversight or information about how, exactly, the system determines what is worth alerting cops to,” @jason_koebler, @emanuelmaiberg and @josephfcox write in @Motherboard https://www.vice.com/... Joseph Cox / @josephfcox : Banjo takes real-time data (cameras owned by the state, social media) and then claims to help solve kidnapping “in seconds.” Originally for just child abduction, contract has expanded to all “emergency event detection”. It can detect if car going wrong way https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/... Anne Helen Petersen / @annehelen : Just gonna say it's not a coincidence that this is happening in Utah https://twitter.com/...
VICE
Context & Ripple Effects
Banjo's five-year Utah contract hands a private vendor real-time access to traffic cameras, CCTV, and 911 systems, with AI flagging anomalies as emergencies or crime — marketed as Palantir-like capability. It lands weeks after [[a:949805|Clearview AI's exposure of mass facial-recognition scraping used by 600+ law enforcement agencies]], making it the second privacy flashpoint in American policing tech within two months.
Privacy advocates warn the arrangement amounts to mass surveillance with little oversight and no demonstrated evidence it works — a critique that proved durable enough that the Utah AG later suspended the contract entirely over the founder's background and an audit of data privacy and bias.
First-order effects
Utah residents' movements captured by state traffic cameras, CCTV, and 911 systems now flow through a private company's anomaly-detection models under a five-year lock-in, with critics citing absent oversight mechanisms.
Second-order effects
The backlash pressures other states weighing similar contracts to demand audit rights and effectiveness evidence up front, and pushes vendors like Banjo to treat procurement scrutiny — not just sales — as a core competency.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, policing consolidates around platforms fusing public and private camera networks — the model Fusus has since scaled to 60+ cities across 12+ states — forcing legislatures to build governance frameworks for AI-flagged surveillance rather than evaluating each contract ad hoc.
The trend: State surveillance is being outsourced to AI vendors that fuse government sensor feeds with private-camera networks faster than oversight structures can be built around them.
A predictive policing company called Banjo has gotten the state of Utah to pay it $20.1 million to build an artificial intelligence-powered panopticon throughout the entire state https://www.vice.com/... investigation by me, @josephfcox and @emanuelmaiberg
New: through docs, audio, interviews, we found: - AI firm “Banjo” gained real-time access to state of Utah's traffic, CCTV, public safety cameras; 911 system - Is doing Palantir “but live” - Predicting crime; also options for “homelessness” “opioid events” https://www.vice.com/..…
Given the many valid privacy/bias concerns experts are raising, and how little evidence there seems to be that this surveillance does any good, I'm alarmed that there was nothing stopping them from rolling this out. https://twitter.com/...
This is the perfect 2020 tech story, because it feels like about 70 percent of this impossibly sinister AI company's claims are obvious bullshit, but everything it aspires/claims to do is just pure dystopia. https://www.vice.com/...
If you live in Utah or ever visit, here is the level of contempt the state government has for your civil liberties — it's off the charts, building a total surveillance state. https://www.vice.com/...
This company is doing wild new AI-based security which is both scary and interesting. AI's can see patterns that humans can't and can see them fast. Worth reading this article to understand some of the Spatial Computing technologies that are coming. https://twitter.com/...
“Utah has given an artificial intelligence company real-time access to state traffic cameras, CCTV and “public safety” cameras, 911 emergency systems, etc. to detect anomalies.” Not super stoked to live on the bleeding edge of the surveillance state. 👀 https://www.vice.com/...
At a time when crime rates are extremely low, Utah has decided to allow a private company unprecedented access to as much of the state's surveillance apparatus as possible, and to give its algorithm the power to direct police. https://www.vice.com/...
mass surveillance without evidence that it works continues to be paid for with taxpayer money, and this investigation shows it on a larger scale than anything else i've seen: https://www.vice.com/...
Banjo started as another social media company, scraping feeds from Facebook etc to show what everyone was talking about in an area. Then Banjo pivoted to law enforcement, and combining that data with much more https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/...
There's very little information or evidence on how effective Banjo's AI system really is. Even the office of the Attorney General, which has used it, is still waiting for case studies from Banjo on instances where it actually helped https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/..…
The state of Utah has given an artificial intelligence company real-time access to state traffic cameras, CCTV and “public safety” cameras, 911 emergency systems, location data for state-owned vehicles, and other sensitive data. https://www.vice.com/...
“The company, called Banjo, says that it's combining this data with information collected from social media, satellites, and other apps, and claims its algorithms “detect anomalies” in the real world.” https://twitter.com/...
New: Banjo is applying artificial intelligence to government-owned surveillance and traffic cameras across the entire state of Utah to tell police about “anomalies.” https://www.vice.com/...
“As with other algorithmic crime systems, there is little public oversight or information about how, exactly, the system determines what is worth alerting cops to,” @jason_koebler, @emanuelmaiberg and @josephfcox write in @Motherboard https://www.vice.com/...
Banjo takes real-time data (cameras owned by the state, social media) and then claims to help solve kidnapping “in seconds.” Originally for just child abduction, contract has expanded to all “emergency event detection”. It can detect if car going wrong way https://www.vice.com/..…