As the population continues to grow exponentially, the rise in crime rates follows. Gone are the days when you could walk home alone and leave your cars unlocked. Not that I would ever consider leaving anything unlocked, especially living in Athens. Could AI potentially be the solution to the rise in crimes and lower human errors in criminal cases? The rise of artificial intelligence has changed the ways we live our everyday lives and made the jobs of humans easier. The development of AI software has proven the ability to support public security through facial recognition, video/photo analysis, processing DNA, and crime forecasting.
An AI application that is being used in both the public and private sectors is facial recognition and video analysis. Unlike humans who grow tired of looking at a screen for hours, computers can do it effortlessly forever. The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity’s Janus computer-vision project has analysts performing trials on the use of algorithms that can learn how to distinguish one person from another using their facial features. This software could potentially be used to find criminals by their facial features from surveillance videos in areas where certain crimes were committed. Researchers in Malaysia are developing AI software for CCTV cameras in an effort to decrease the number of street crimes in the country. This software can autonomously detect these crimes by analyzing the footage in the security camera. The software would detect if there is a weapon or aggressive action and contact law enforcement if a suspected crime is committed. Although the research is still pretty new and in development, I believe it would save many lives as usually law enforcement doesn’t arrive until after the crime is committed.
AI also can forecast potential victims based on associations and behavior. This is called predictive analysis which is a complex process that uses large volumes of data to forecast and formulate potential outcomes. Cops and other enforcement officers are usually tasked with the job of surveying areas for crime but often miss out due to large crowds and bias. The elderly is a large group that is often targeted due to them being an easier target. NIJ-funded researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston are using AI algorithms to analyze elder victimization. The algorithms can pinpoint the victim, perpetrator, and environmental factors leading to the abuse.
Unfortunately, AI is developed by humans and inherits the bias and error of humans. All datasets inputted into these algorithms to generate results are human data and often contain human bias that leads to AI results. As previously discussed in class, we have seen this bias in Amazon as they created a system to hire based on resumes for potential candidates and the results showed a strong bias for men compared to women. This was because the data they imputed from the system was from past hires who happened to be routinely white males. The AI software for facial recognition could potentially be biased and target individuals for their race, ethnicity, and gender. Independent research studies have shown that AI can lead certain groups to be targeted over others and often stopped to be searched by law enforcement. Especially living in America, a very diverse country, I believe this AI software will increase discrimination in certain situations and lead to more unwarranted arrests. With more research and development, AI software will lead to less error and bias. Although it’s not perfect and foolproof, I believe in the coming years it will be beneficial to help reduce crime rates.
The future of AI is still in development, and we truly haven’t seen its true potential. Unlike humans, machine learning can learn from its mistakes and take the data to perform even better. Although error and bias are unavoidable in today’s society, the use of AI is taking the world by storm as we have it being used in the medical field such as radiology and now criminal justice. Today, I wouldn’t be comfortable walking outside or even walking to the nearest stoplight. Thousands of people fall victim to sexual abuse, human trafficking, robbery, and much more. The AI software that is being used in the criminal justice field is just the start and hopefully, one day will help to protect people from leaving their houses.
Sources:
https://www.aitimejournal.com/how-ai-technology-helps-solve-crime#:~:text=AI%20technology%20has%20become%20highly,improves%2C%20so%20does%20DNA%20processing.
Artificial intelligence in criminal justice: invasion or revolution?
From Homer's Iliad to 20th century science fiction movies, through Da Vinci's humanoid robot, artificial intelligence (AI) has been a subject of humankind's dreams for centuries. Although the notion of AI has started as a fantasy, sometimes even dystopian, like Spielberg's film Minority Report which depicts a worrying future of advanced technologies in law enforcement, AI is now a reality in daily life, and has shifted human lifestyles.
No Title
No Description