The Powerful AI Tool That Cops (Or Stalkers) Can Use To Geolocate Photos In Seconds

An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: A powerful AI tool can predict with high accuracy the location of photos based on features inside the image itself -- such as vegetation, architecture, and the distance between buildings -- in seconds, with the company now marketing the tool to law enforcement officers and government agencies. Called GeoSpy, made by a firm called Graylark Technologies out of Boston, the tool has also been used for months by members of the public, with many making videos marveling at the technology, and some asking for help with stalking specific women. The company's founder has aggressively pushed back against such requests, and GeoSpy closed off public access to the tool after 404 Media contacted him for comment.

Based on 404 Media's own tests and conversations with other people who have used it and investors, GeoSpy could radically change what information can be learned from photos posted online, and by whom. Law enforcement officers with very little necessary training, private threat intelligence companies, and stalkers could, and in some cases already are, using this technology. Dedicated open source intelligence (OSINT) professionals can of course do this too, but the training and skillset necessary can take years to build up. GeoSpy allows essentially anyone to do it. 'We are working on something for LE [law enforcement] but it's,' Daniel Heinen, the founder of Graylark and GeoSpy, wrote in a message to the GeoSpy community Discord in July.

GeoSpy has been trained on millions of images from around the world, according to marketing material available online. From that, the tool is able to recognize 'distinct geographical markers such as architectural styles, soil characteristics, and their spatial relationships.' That marketing material says GeoSpy has strong coverage in the United States, but that it also 'maintains global capabilities for location identification.' GeoSpy has not received much media attention, but it has become something of a sensation on YouTube. Multiple content creators have tested out the tool, and some try to feed it harder and harder challenges. Now that it's been shut off to the public, users have to request access, which is 'available exclusively to qualified law enforcement agencies, enterprise users and government entities,' according to the company's website.

The law enforcement-version of GeoSpy is more powerful than what was publicly available, according to Heinen's Discord posts. 'Geospy.ai is a demo,' he wrote in September. 'The real work is the law enforcement models.'

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