TAMPA, Fla. — Florida is now using artificial intelligence to monitor and transcribe the phone conversations of the state’s 80,000-plus inmates.
The Florida Department of Corrections paid $2.5 million to California-based Leo Technologies to begin using its surveillance program called Verus beginning in August.
The program scans incoming and outgoing calls, including to inmates’ friends and family, and does automatic searches for keywords selected by prison officials and the technology company’s employees. It uses speech-to-text technology powered by Amazon to transcribe the content of conversations that include those keywords.
The contract, which lasts until June 30 of next year, allows prisons to record and scan up to 50 million minutes of conversations.
The only calls that the company says are excluded from monitoring are communications with lawyers, doctors and spiritual advisers.
