China has been making rapid advancements in the technology field. And now, Chinese scientists have claimed that they have developed a machine that can charge people with crime using artificial intelligence.
According to the Hindustan Times, This is the world’s first such machine. The AI “prosecutor” can charge people with over 97 percent accuracy, the researchers further claimed, adding that it works on a verbal description.
The machine was built and tested by the Shanghai Pudong People’s Procuratorate, the country’s largest and busiest district prosecution office, reported South China Morning Post. The project’s lead scientist told local media that the machine has been created to reduce the current workload of prosecutors.
“The system can replace prosecutors in the decision-making process to a certain extent,” Professor Shi Yong, the lead scientists of the project, was quoted as saying by one of the publications. It can also identify “dissent” against the state, the researchers further claimed.
According to The Daily Mail, The AI would allow human prosecutors to ease their workload and allow them to only focus on the more complex cases, the project’s lead scientist Professor Shi Yong said. The system can run on a standard desktop computer and would press charges based on 1,000 ‘traits’ from the human-generated case description text, the South China Morning Post reported.
It was ‘trained’ using 17,000 real-life cases from 2015 to 2020 and is able to identify and press charges for the eight most common crimes in Shanghai. These include ‘provoking trouble’ – a term used to stifle dissent in China, credit card fraud, gambling crimes, dangerous driving, theft, fraud, intentional injury, and obstructing official duties.
Soon the AI prosecutor will be able to recognize more types of crime and file multiple charges against one suspect once it is upgraded. Shi said in a paper published in the Management Review journal: ‘The system can replace prosecutors in the decision-making process to a certain extent.’
Some AI technology already exists in law enforcement but this would be the first time it is involved in pressing charges. In Germany, image recognition and digital forensics are used to help with caseloads, while China uses a tool known as System 206 to evaluate evidence, a suspect’s potential danger, and the conditions for arrest.
