US investigators using AI to search for criminals, leading to people being arrested by mistake
US law enforcement officials are using artificial intelligence (AI) tools as a shortcut to finding and detaining suspects without other evidence, ignoring obvious clues and arresting people by mistake, RIA Novosti reports citing The Washington Post
Media reports show that law enforcement agencies in the United States are using AI tools in a way they were never intended: as the shortest way to find and detain suspects without other evidence. As a result, 15 police departments from 12 states detained suspects identified through AI matching, without any independent evidence linking them to the crime.
According to an investigation by The Washington Post, as a result of using facial recognition technology, American investigators mistakenly detained at least eight people. According to the newspaper, in some cases, the police did not check the alibis of suspects, in others they ignored fingerprints and DNA traces that pointed to other people, and in others they did not check false witness statements. And in some cases, investigators did not even take into account the obvious differences in appearance between the criminals captured by surveillance cameras and the suspects identified by the AI.