Cameras at the Mall of America are starting to use facial recognition technology to spot potential criminals and missing people.
The country's largest shopping mall announced on Wednesday that it has implemented facial recognition technology developed by Israel-based company Corsight AI.
In an interview TCBSWill Bernhelm, vice president of security at Mall of America, stressed that the technology would only be used to locate “persons of interest,” or POIs, which the mall described as “individuals currently trespassing at Mall of America, individuals who may pose a threat to our environment, individuals identified by law enforcement, or individuals who may be missing or in danger.”
Bernhelm said Corsite's technology is a “closed-loop one-to-one” system, meaning it only compares one image of an individual to other photos on file, as opposed to a “one-to-n” system that compares an individual's likeness to nearly every image available on the internet.
Photos of “suspects” are uploaded to Corsite's system. If the person's image doesn't match a photo of a POI, the technology discards it immediately. “The technology does not track or store information about individuals outside of the POI,” mall officials said in a press release issued Wednesday.
But if the technology does find a match, the image is flagged to the mall's security team, who can decide whether to investigate further. Bernhelm noted that there are “up to three layers of human verification going on behind the scenes” to ensure the technology is flagging the right person.
Mall security will approach possible suspects and follow “standard security procedures” only if “human review determines with sufficient confidence that the alert is accurate,” according to the mall.
Should shoppers be worried about their likeness being uploaded to Corsight's database? Bernhjelm says not. “Corsight doesn't care about the regular shoppers who come here,” he says. “They only care about the people on their POI list.”
Bernhelm likened the technology to facial recognition on an iPhone, saying: “When I try to unlock my phone, it scans my face, but it doesn't unlock it. It doesn't care. It doesn't store that image.”
The algorithms behind Corsite's technology have “undergone rigorous independent testing by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Homeland Security,” said Bernhelm, and Mohr said the department's tests showed it identified the correct person “99.3% of the time.”
The mall officially began rolling out the technology on Wednesday.
In March, The New York Times reported that the Israeli military had begun using a facial recognition program in Gaza “powered by Corsite technology.”
Bernhelm said the mall vetted several contractors before awarding the contract to Corsite. He declined to disclose the value of the mall's contract with Corsite or the length of the agreement.
In his view, the new technology will only complement the mall's existing security protocols.
“We can't just rely on technology. That would be irresponsible,” he said. “When we are notified, all it tells us is that the suspect may be here.”
Mall of America has tested a variety of security measures over the years with varying success. Two years ago, the mall began experimenting with installing weapons detectors at some entrances. Birnhelm said the mall has since ended that project.
“Ultimately, given the number of entrances, the hours of operation and the number of days we're open, we decided that that wasn't necessarily the best course of action,” he said.
In early 2023, the mall invited members of the media to tour its latest security measures.
