China is creating a machine that would act as an AI-powered prosecutor.
QUICK FACTS:
- Researchers note the product, already tested by the Shanghai Pudong prosecutor’s office, is able to achieve 97% accuracy in charging people suspected of eight criminal acts, according to The South China Morning Post (SCMP).
- The ‘AI prosecutor’ is allegedly highly proficient at managing crimes such as credit card fraud, dangerous driving, gambling, intentional injury, obstructing officials, theft, but also something called “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
- The goal is to deploy a system that will be granted decision-making powers on a case-by-case basis, such as whether to press charges and what penalty to seek.
WHAT CHINA’S EXPERTS ARE SAYING:
- Professor Shi Yong—director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ big data and knowledge management laboratory and the project’s lead scientist—says the tech could reduce prosecutors’ daily workload, allowing them to focus on more difficult tasks. “The system can replace prosecutors in the decision-making process to a certain extent,” said Shi and his colleagues in a paper published this month in the domestic peer-reviewed journal Management Review.
- One prosecutor in the southern city of Guangzhou expressed concern over the use of AI in filing charges against citizens. “The accuracy of 97 percent may be high from a technological point of view, but there will always be a chance of a mistake,” said the prosecutor, who requested to remain anonymous. “Who will take responsibility when it happens? The prosecutor, the machine or the designer of the algorithm?”
BACKGROUND:
- The application of AI technology in law enforcement has been increasing around the world, as some German prosecutors have used the technology in image recognition and digital forensics.
- SCMP notes that China’s prosecutors were early adopters when they began using AI in 2016, many of them now using an AI tool known as ‘System 206.’
- China is aggressively using artificial intelligence (AI) in practically every government area in an attempt to increase efficiency, decrease corruption, and enhance control.
- According to researchers, several Chinese towns have utilized AI tech to monitor government personnel’s social circles and activities in order to discover corruption.
- “Most Chinese prisons have also adopted AI technology to track prisoners’ physical and mental status, with the goal of reducing violence,” SCMP reports.
