The town of Houlton recently agreed to remove surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition technology and destroy data as part of a settlement with residents who planned to take the town to court. They argued that Maine law prohibits possession and use of facial recognition technology.
But other forms of artificial intelligence are being tested by municipal governments to help with code enforcement research, water quality analysis, and other daily functions. And that's raising questions about what kinds of data local officials have access to, and how they're using it.
When the Sanford Police Department was informed of a stolen vehicle this spring, it didn't take long to solve the case.
"They're able to find the vehicle within 24 hours of it being reported stolen, which is, for Maine, unheard of," Major Mark Dyer said.
He said that's because municipalities in New Hampshire and Massachusetts spotted the vehicle with cameras that use artificial intelligence to search for license plate numbers, vehicle color and more.
"It would tell us this vehicle went through on this day and time, and it would give us a little video, like a two seconds video of them driving through the intersection," Dyer said.
And Dyer said that's far more efficient than having an officer review the footage.
"That allows the officers to not have to put in time just watching a static camera of video footage for hours and hours, hoping that the vehicle went through," he said.
Dyer said the success in the stolen vehicle case prompted the department to look into installing the cameras in Sanford at a cost of $3,300 for installation, and an annual subscription fee of $23,000.
The city council voted last month to start a free 60-day trial with the service. But after pushback from residents, the council reversed course, and cancelled it.
And as other Maine communities test the waters of AI, privacy advocates are sounding alarms about the kind of information being collected.
"All of this is not illegal behavior, but it's also none of the government's business," said Beryl Lipton, senior investigative researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
She said many municipal leaders are well meaning in their attempts to strike a balance between public safety concerns and the right to privacy.
"However, when we're dealing with data in this way again, it's very difficult to ensure that it's only going to be applied and used in the ways discussed," Lipton said.
She said given the pace at which this technology is evolving, it's particularly hard for small municipalities to create and enforce their own policies for accountability in the absence of broader regulations or industry standards.
More and more small municipalities are turning to AI programs, as the technology has become cheaper and more accessible.
"So it's less about completely prohibiting its use in certain areas, and more about controlling its use of effectively and safely," said Brian McDonald, director of IT and administration for the Maine Municipal Association.
He said municipalities across Maine are beginning to utilize AI in a variety of ways, such as permitting research for code enforcement officers, for assessing property values and to do road mapping.
But McDonald said at this early stage in the legal history of AI, local governments take a risk by investing in a new service.
"So, you know, something could change all of a sudden, you've signed a five-year contract, there's a change of law, and now you can't use this feature that you paid a lot of money for," he said.
McDonald said he helped develop a model policy for association members which stresses transparency with residents, and caution in adopting new technologies.
He said it's also important to have a human involved in any AI process and not let the technology make any decisions without a review but the upside, especially for small towns with limited budgets is considerable.
"So we're not necessarily, with AI, doing something that a human can't do, but with analytical AI, you're doing it way faster," McDonald said. "And so there is a real time savings there, particularly in areas where staffing is low, or you have to hire a consultant at, you know, $200 an hour."
But those potential savings are being weighed against pushback from the public, and from privacy advocates. A plan by officials in Old Town to partner with nearby towns on a system that aggregates existing cellphone data to analyze downtown foot traffic has been under scrutiny from some residents.
In Sanford, Major Mark Dyer said the town council set out to weigh the benefits of systems like AI cameras, with public concerns.
"And they have to make that decision on what they move forward with and what they don't, and they decided not to move forward with this, and that's fine," he said.
