AI and Paternalism = Big Brother?

What happens when AI goes paternalistic?

If ethicists and polemicists like Jessica Flanigan think paternalistic laws are unjustified, imagine how they will feel about the use of rudimentary so-called artificial intelligence (AI) programs being used to suss out seat-belt deniers. In the U.K., where CCTV cameras monitor the public 24/7 and are as common as clotted cream, officials have begun to use AI programs in conjunction with mobile road-side cameras to detect people who fail to wear seatbelts--or worse, fail to put them on their kids. The idea is to subsequently send a police officer around to the offending parental home to do a "safeguarding check."

I've argued in favor of paternalistic mandates (and against professor Flanigan), but even I find this move a step too far, at least prima facie a denial of autonomy. On the other hand, how much autonomy should parents have in caring for their children?

Read the full story on the BBC.