Network Rail admits AI passenger scans

It has emerged that passengers have been scanned as they passed through station ticket gates. A complaint has been made about alleged breaches of data protection law. The use of AI was revealed when civil liberties group Big Brother Watch made a Freedom of Information request. It appeared that Network Rail was assessing the moods of passengers, but Network Rail said that was not so. A spokesman said emotions were not being analysed. Instead, the purpose of the scans was to ‘protect passengers’, and that the data could be used to ‘measure satisfaction’ and ‘maximise advertising and retail revenue’.