The impact of artificial intelligence on close protection and surveillance

Abstract Purpose The current study assesses whether and how Artificial Intelligence could assist in threat assessment and analysis within the close protection and surveillance field. Methods The study drew on in‐depth interviews with academic experts and practitioners within the Dutch close protection and surveillance system, including the police, military police, public prosecution office and counter‐terrorism service, among others. Furthermore, in an expert meeting with practitioners from these organizations, the challenges identified in the interviews were ranked. Results Various promising applications of AI were identified, for example in OSINT analyses and support from LLMs during assessments. Prominent challenges are data quality and availability to train AI models, and unknowns about human‐AI interaction in operational settings. Conclusions Taken together, the use of AI holds much promise, but its implementation is complex given the unique high‐stakes, time‐sensitive nature of close protection and surveillance work.