Chinese researchers have developed an algorithm using artificial intelligence to accuse people of wrongdoing. An AI prosecutor can incriminate a crime with 97% accuracy based on an oral description of the case, writes SCMP…
The car was built and tested at the Shanghai Pudong People’s Procuratorate, the country’s largest and busiest oversight agency.
The technology will help reduce the day-to-day workload on prosecutors by allowing them to focus on more complex tasks, said Professor Shi Yong, director of the China Academy of Sciences’ Big Data and Knowledge Management Lab.
“The system can to some extent replace prosecutors in the decision-making process,” he said.
The tool works on a regular PC. For each suspect, he makes an accusation based on a thousand “traits” derived from the text of the description of the case, created by a person.
The machine was trained for more than 17,000 cases from 2015 to 2020. She can currently identify and prosecute eight of the most common crimes in Shanghai:
- credit card fraud;
- conducting gambling;
- dangerous driving;
- deliberate injury;
- creating obstacles to the performance of official duties;
- theft;
- fraud;
- “Fomenting quarrels and provoking trouble” is a common accusation often used to suppress dissent.
Shih stated that the AI Attorney will soon become more influential thanks to the updates. He will be able to recognize less common crimes and bring multiple charges to one suspect.
Some prosecutors have expressed concerns about the ethics of using such tools in deciding the fate of people.
“An accuracy of 97% can be high from a technological point of view, but there will always be a chance of error. Who will take responsibility when this happens? A prosecutor, a car, or an algorithm developer? ”Said a Guangzhou-based prosecutor, who did not give his name.
According to him, most prosecutors do not want computer systems to “interfere” with a court decision.
We will remind, in November, the media reported that the authorities of the Chinese province of Henan have created a facial recognition system to monitor journalists and other “people of concern.”
In October, China introduced ethical guidelines for regulating artificial intelligence.
