Edmonton police first to to test facial recognition body cams from Axon
Police in Edmonton, Alberta are launching a Proof of Concept to test facial recognition-enabled Body Worn Video (BWV) cameras.
A release from the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) says the limited trial will assess the feasibility and functionality of technology provided by Axon Enterprise, the U.S. company that began making Taser electroshock weapons but has since pivoted to body cams and other law enforcement tech. EPS will be the first police service in the world to test Axon’s facial recognition BWV cameras. (A trio of Ontario forces uses tech from Idemia.)
The pilot kicks off today, and will see up to 50 police officers equipped with facial recognition-enabled BWV cameras for the month of December. EPS says it aims to “test the technology’s ability to work with our database to make officers aware of individuals with safety flags and cautions from previous interactions.”
Like other facial recognition systems deployed for law enforcement, the system compares footage from the field with a database of police mugshots. And like other police forces, Edmonton’s thinks it will be helpful in assisting officers in preventing crime.
“As we focus on continuous improvement around enhancing officer situational awareness and public and officer safety, we are pleased to be the first police service in the world to test Axon’s facial recognition technology through the use of Body-Worn Video cameras,” says Acting Superintendent Kurt Martin with the EPS’ Information and Analytics Division. “We are hopeful that upon successful testing, it can be yet another tool in our toolbox to assist us in our efforts to keep our communities and officers safe. This technology will not replace the human component of investigative work.”
Axios’ facial recognition cameras run automatically and with no intervention from officers. They won’t provide alerts to officers while on duty, but will log footage for review by specialists to see if the biometric hardware works how it’s intended to.
In effect, this is a technical trial run of the equipment and pipeline, rather than an evaluation of how it would be used by officers in practice.
If the EPS likes what it sees, it will proceed with more tests in 2026.
The Edmonton Police Service has submitted a Privacy Impact Assessment to Alberta’s Information and Privacy Commissioner to make sure the facial recognition proof of concept from Axon is fair and respects privacy law.
The Scottsdale, Arizona-based company’s stock has nosedived by nearly 30 percent over the last month.
Google allows biometrics for YouTube likeness detection to be used in AI training
In 2025, two of the biggest risks in tech are related. First is the deepfake threat: synthetic media is flooding the internet, eroding our capacity to distinguish what is real and true from what has been generated by a large language model or diffusion engine. Second is that any piece of data you put online now is destined to be sucked into an AI training dataset.
Google has apparently decided to combine the two problems into a hybrid concern. A report from CNBC quotes experts who say YouTube’s privacy policy technically allows it to use creators’ biometrics – ostensibly collected for the purpose of detecting and removing unauthorized and AI-manipulated use of their likeness – to train the company’s AI models.
YouTube says it never uses the biometrics and identity data it collects for the purpose of likeness protection to train its algorithms. But, according to the report, experts say that Google’s privacy policy leaves the door open for future misuse of creators’ biometrics, in stating that “public content, including biometric information, can be used to help train Google’s AI models and build products and features.”
YouTube says it has no plans to change the privacy policy. But it tells CNBC that it is “considering ways to make the in-product language clearer.” The likeness detection tool, which will launch in January for creators in the YouTube Partner Program, is optional – but, as a YouTube spokesperson notes, it “does require a visual reference to work.”
YouTube has already faced data privacy concerns over its algorithmic age inference model, which guesses a user’s age based on their viewing patterns and behavior. As CNBC notes, as technology develops, the various interests of companies owned by Alphabet – namely, Google and YouTube – may diverge, as Google prioritizes training its models and YouTube aims to maintain trust with its creators and users.
As liveness detection was to 2024, likeness detection will be to 2026
The issue of likeness protection is one of the newest subcategories in biometrics, but it stands to become one of the most urgent. As the generative algorithmic software typically called AI becomes better and more freely available, it’s easier to steal and exploit someone else’s face online.
This is an obvious problem for celebrities, who have already started organizing to try and protect the value inherent in their appearance. Scarlett Johansson excoriated OpenAI for making its chatbot sound like her after she’d turned down the gig, and Bryan Cranston is leading a fresh charge to stop likeness theft from hobbling Hollywood.
The small screen, however, is the battleground, and YouTube creators must also deal with fake or generated images of themselves doing things online that put their reputations and credibility at risk. CNBC profiles Mikhail Varshavski, also known as Dr. Mike, a physician YouTuber who reacts to medical dramas and debunks medical myths, and worries about the trust he’s built up over years being compromised by AI deepfake versions of himself.
The issue is becoming pressing enough to spur efforts at regulation, notably in Denmark, which has legislated the right to own one’s likeness. And it is spurring innovation from startups. Companies such as Loti AI and Vermillo are offering services that find unauthorized uses of a client’s likeness, and give them the option of requesting removal. In April 2025, Loti closed a 16.2 million dollar Series A funding round, after opening up its product to the general public. A statement from CEO Luke Arrigoni says that “from deepfakes to unauthorized illicit content, these threats are no longer limited to celebrities.”
The deepfake threat is everyone’s problem now.
Waymo laying groundwork to bring robotaxis to 4 more cities
Waymo is starting manual driving in its newest cities this week. The company did not specify a timeline for commercial robotaxi launch.
The post Waymo laying groundwork to bring robotaxis to 4 more cities appeared first on The Robot Report.
Sweat Could Soon Replace Blood Tests. Here’s What Scientists Are Learning From It
For most people, sweat is just an annoyance during workouts or hot summer days. Scientists say it may change healthcare.
The post Sweat Could Soon Replace Blood Tests. Here’s What Scientists Are Learning From It appeared first on Study Finds.
You know what to do.Supplement Mix Reverses Autism Traits
Researchers have made a major advance, discovering that a low-dose mixture of zinc, serine, and branch-chain amino acids (BCAAs) can successfully alleviate behavioral symptoms in three different mouse models of autism. This breakthrough lies in the synergy of the three common nutrients, which work together to restore normal neural communication and reduce hyperactivity in the brain’s emotional center.
