Sen. Josh Hawley expands probe into AI-powered surveillance cameras to three additional firms

Senator Josh Hawley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, sent letters on Wednesday to Motorola Solutions Inc., Verkada Inc. and Axon Enterprise Inc. asking the companies to detail how customers can search vehicle data, how long license-plate information is retained, instances of misuse since 2021 and the safeguards in place for law-enforcement searches. The request follows Hawley’s earlier correspondence with Flock Safety, a firm that operates about 120,000 AI-enabled cameras nationwide, which he said could infringe on Americans’ privacy.

"On August 26th, I wrote to your competitor Flock Safety to express my concerns regarding the size and pervasiveness of its network and demanding answers as to reports of abuse and costly errors from its technology," Hawley wrote in the letters. "However, Flock does not stand alone in this industry; you and others are building large camera networks, assisted by artificial intelligence, that intrude on the privacy of all Americans."

Hawley also posted on X that he is investigating who has access to the data collected by such systems and how it is used. In response, an Axon spokesperson said the company had received the letter and would discuss the requests, while a Flock Safety spokesperson said the firm would cooperate with the investigation. The move comes amid similar actions by other officials, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who have ordered the removal or halted funding for license-plate reader cameras.

The broader debate pits privacy advocates and some Republican lawmakers against concerns that AI-driven surveillance could enable warrantless tracking of vehicles, while other political groups have linked the issue to wider critiques of data-center expansion and artificial-intelligence deployment.