Android phones will get a new anti-theft feature using artificial intelligence technology

Brazil will be the first country in the world where tech giant Google will test an anti-theft feature for Android phones. The feature uses artificial intelligence technology to identify when a phone is stolen and lock the device's screen.

In the initial testing phase, Google will use three types of locks. The first type will use AI technology developed by Google to help detect signs of “common movement behaviors associated with theft” and lock the device's screen.

The second feature allows users to remotely lock the device screen by entering a phone number and completing a security challenge from another device. The final mode involves automatically locking the screen if the device is disconnected from the Internet for an extended period of time.

According to Google, these features will be available to Brazilian users with Android phones running version 10 or higher starting next July. This anti-theft feature will also be gradually released to users in other countries this year.

Cellphone theft is a growing problem in Brazil, with the number of stolen mobile phones in Latin America's largest economy rising 16.6% in 2022 from the previous year to nearly 1 million, according to data from the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook 2023.

To combat this, the Brazilian government launched an app called Celular Seguro last December, which allows users to report a stolen phone and block access to it by another trusted person's device.

According to Brazil's Ministry of Justice, as of last May, there were about 2 million people registered to use this application nationwide, while 50,000 phones had been locked.

In an effort to enhance AI-based security measures, Google is also launching an improved fraud protection pilot program, complementing existing pilots in Singapore and Thailand.

According to Google, the new Play Protect feature will “automatically analyze and block the installation of apps that may use sensitive permissions commonly used for financial fraud, and look for access requests that fraudsters often use to intercept one-time passwords via SMS messages.

In addition to the new AI-powered anti-theft features, Google is also testing a new Search feature in Brazil. Google said the new search feature will allow users to multitask by using the search bar to make requests, such as starting chats with companies via SMS or scheduling appointments with local doctors and beauty salons.

Royal Hansen, Google's vice president of privacy, safety and security engineering, said the company is using AI to enhance the security of Google products. Google's AI-based security measures for Gmail have been shown to automatically block 99.9% of threats from reaching users' inboxes.