SAO PAULO, June 11 (Reuters) - Alphabet's

Google said on Tuesday that Brazil will be the first country to

test an anti-theft feature for Android phones that uses

artificial intelligence (AI) to identify when a phone has been

stolen and lock the device's screen.

Three types of lock will be available in the initial test

phase. In one of them, Google will use AI that it created to

help detect signals of "common movement associated with theft"

and block the screen.

The second feature allows a user to lock the device's screen

remotely by entering the phone number and completing a security

challenge from another device. The last mode involves

automatically locking the screen if the device is left without

internet access for long periods.

The features will be available to Brazilian users of Android

phones version 10 or higher starting in July, according to the

company. They will be released to users from other countries

gradually this year, Google said.

Phone theft is a growing problem in Brazil. The number of

stolen cellphones in Latin America's largest economy grew 16.6%

in 2022 from the previous year to nearly 1 million, according to

data from the 2023 Brazilian Public Security Yearbook.

The Brazilian government launched an app in December named

Celular Seguro, which allows users to report a stolen phone and

block access to it using another device belonging a trusted

person.

As of last month, around 2 million people were registered

with the app across the country, while 50,000 phones had been

blocked, according to the Justice Ministry.