In late August, Old Town made headlines across Maine after releasing plans of their new partnership with the location analytics company Placer.ai. This artificial intelligence (AI) software will ultimately “be used to create more personalized marketing in communities and will give the city more information about what people are interested in downtown,” says E.J. Roach, who was quoted in a recent article from Bangor Daily News and works as the director of economic and community development in Old Town. Despite Roach and many residents’ optimistic outlook on the new partnership, some students at the University of Maine have expressed concerns about what AI-powered location tracking will look like in a small community like Old Town. Questions of privacy, effectiveness and need for this software have been raised.
The main goal of this partnership was outlined in a Sept. 8 article by The Maine Monitor: “Generative AI systems and other specialized tools are helping businesses and governments accomplish a growing list of basic and complex tasks,” as stated in the article.
Though the potential benefits of the software seem promising, many residents and students are not aware of what these “tasks” are that the city of Old Town hopes to accomplish, the exact details regarding the location-tracking itself and how that will impact daily mobile device usage.
Funding comes from the Greater Bangor Recreation Economy for Rural Communities (GBRERC) group, part of Eastern Maine Development Corporation (EMDC). Lee Umphrey, President and CEO of EMDC, elaborated on the group’s role in the partnership.
“EMDC supports the community efforts of GBRERC. Their community steering committee decided to use the Placer.ai and we were unaware of that decision. EMDC is familiar with Placer.ai being used in economic development decisions and sees it as one more tool to determine who is visiting an area to better inform decisions on business or recreational activities,” said Umphrey.
When asked to address concerns raised by students at UMaine, including data privacy, Umphrey suggested the data collected is not tied to individuals, but acknowledged that residents had valid concerns because of how the plan was explained to the public.
“The collected data is broad and not narrowed down to individuals. Still, residents were correct to raise concerns because it’s unclear how intrusive the system can be. A better public explanation about its usage would have alleviated these concerns. As an organization, we are at the early stages of evaluating AI and developing policies on how best to use it and when it should be known to the public,” said Umphrey.
Umphrey’s emphasis on the worry residents have expressed about personal privacy seems to align with student concerns. After a survey put out to multiple students at UMaine, the consensus from those polled is that most find the partnership to be a good idea, but there is some uneasiness with the uncertainty of how intrusive this software could be.
Fiona Wood, who is a third-year student studying communications at UMaine, shared her thoughts regarding Old Town’s partnership with Placer.ai.
“The push for AI usage in Old Town can create a sense of uneasiness for residents. Regardless of the intention behind the software, all the public is understanding is that there is going to be heavy surveillance in their public spaces and that can strike fear and a sense of militarization in residents,” said Wood.
For some, using location data is seen as a tool to reinvigorate downtown areas and shape them around the needs of the people who spend time there. For others, it sparks deeper concerns about consent and autonomy in an age when our movements can be tracked and analyzed without us even realizing it. Old Town and Placer.ai are projected to officially start their partnership at the end of the year.
