Potential Vulnerabilities of Artificial Intelligence Systems at Sports and Entertainment Venues
Download the full project summary.
Project Summary
This project examines the emerging vulnerabilities created by the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) systems at sports and entertainment venues, where AI is now beginning to be embedded in areas such as access control, crowd management, vehicle screening, threat alerts, and personalized patron engagement. Findings should provide timely and practical guidance for the 2028 Olympics, and for strengthening day-to-day operations at stadiums and arenas.
Purpose/Objectives
This project gives DHS, CISA, and venue security leadership a structured way to identify which AI systems already deployed at mass gathering sites can be exploited, what capability an adversary would need to do so, and which governance, technical, and operational countermeasures to prioritize, with direct application to LA28 planning and to SAFETY Act considerations at certified venues.
Method
- Task 1 conducts semi-structured interviews with venue operators, security directors, and league security leadership, with thematic coding of transcripts.
- Task 2 combines a structured AI risk assessment mapped to existing frameworks. Using this assessment, practitioners will engage with three tabletop exercises to approximate how practitioners may engage in risk assessment in a real-world scenario.
- Task 3 builds attacker capability profiles.
- Task 4 synthesizes a prioritized countermeasure framework.
Outputs and Impact
- An inventory of how AI is currently used or planned for use at sports and entertainment venues.
- A taxonomy of vulnerabilities introduced by these systems.
- Attacker capability profiles.
- Countermeasure recommendations.
Research Team
Fred Roberts, Ph.D.- Rutgers University
- Director, DIMACS and CCICADA; Professor, Department of Mathematics
- Expertise: mathematical models applied to homeland security, social, behavioral, biological, and environmental sciences
- Rutgers University
- Professor of Library and Information Science
- Expertise: the relationship between human behavior and information technology
Dennis Egan, Ph.D.
- Rutgers University
- Assistant Director, CCICADA