Chinese researchers have developed an algorithm that can indict people for offenses using artificial intelligence. The AI prosecutor can press charges with 97% accuracy based on an oral description of the case, according to SCMP.
The machine was built and tested at the Shanghai Pudong People’s Procuratorate — the country’s largest and busiest supervisory authority.
According to Professor Shi Yun, director of the Laboratory for Big Data and Knowledge Management at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the technology will help reduce the everyday workload on prosecutors, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks.
“The system can, to some extent, replace prosecutors in the decision-making process,” he said.
The tool runs on a regular PC. For each suspect it issues an accusation based on thousands of “features” drawn from the text description of the case created by a person.
The machine was trained on more than 17,000 cases from 2015 to 2020. At present it can identify and press charges for eight of the most common crimes in Shanghai:
- credit card fraud;
- gambling;
- dangerous driving;
- intentional injury;
- obstruction of official duties;
- theft;
- fraud;
- “inciting disputes and causing trouble” — a broad charge often used to suppress dissent.
Shi said the AI prosecutor will soon become more influential thanks to updates. It will be able to identify less common offenses and bring multiple charges against a single suspect.
Some prosecutors expressed concerns about the ethics of using such tools in judicial decision-making.
“An accuracy of 97% may be high from a technological standpoint, but there will always be a probability of error. Who will take responsibility when that happens? The prosecutor, the machine, or the algorithm developer?”,
said a prosecutor from Guangzhou, who declined to be named.
Most prosecutors do not want computer systems to “interfere” in judicial decisions.
Earlier in November, media reported that authorities in Henan province created a facial-recognition system to monitor journalists and other “persons of concern”.
In October, China introduced ethical principles for governing artificial intelligence.
Subscribe to ForkLog news on Telegram: ForkLog AI — all the news from the AI world!