NYC considering AI technology to combat transit crime

NEW YORK (PIX11) – New York City is exploring the use of artificial intelligence as a new resource to combat rising crime in the city’s transit system.

Mayor Eric Adams told PIX11 News that his administration met with technology companies throughout the past year to learn more about the use of artificial intelligence as a crime-fighting tool. 

“There is some amazing technology out there. They are using artificial intelligence that can see a particular location and determine if something inappropriate is taking place. We’re looking at all this new technology,” Adams said. 

The MTA has thousands of security cameras installed throughout the subway system, including at all 472 subway stations. Adams said cameras would be overlaid with artificial intelligence software “so that they can be smarter in helping us be proactive to prevent crime.”

Although Adams says New York City is trending in the right direction when it comes to fighting crime, the city is still struggling to address crime on subways and buses.

“We ended [2022] with a 29.6% increase in crime versus last year,” Acting Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said.

Just hours into 2023, two men were stabbed inside a Jamaica subway station during a fight, police said. On Dec. 20, an MTA worker was beaten in the head with a hammer at a Chelsea subway station. On Dec. 8, a man was found dead with cuts to his torso at a Greenwich Village subway station.