Warning against Crime Prediction Algorithms. Since, the workforce of two of the gigantic software enterprises such as Google and Microsoft have asked their management. In order to end their contract with the state police department regarding facial recognition and criminal behavior prediction software.
Google employees recently wrote, ‘We’re disappointed to know that Google is still selling to police forces, and advertises its connection with police forces as somehow progressive, and seeks more expansive sales rather than severing ties with police and joining the millions who want to defang and defund these institutions’, this move was followed by another letter signed by over 1000 AI experts- ‘data generated by the criminal justice system cannot be used to “identify criminals” or predict behavior. These data reflect who police choose to arrest, how judges choose to rule, and which people are granted longer or more lenient sentences’.The letter further states that “Having a face that looks a certain way does not cause an individual to commit a crime — there simply is no ‘physical features to criminality’ function in nature’
The claim revolves around a hypothesis that software such as facial recognition, voice recognition, or any other artificial intelligence can’t determine the criminals or predict behavior due to the racial discrimination practices predominant in the law and criminal enforcement systems. Also, the authenticity of the data can’t be considered fair as the software has often been criticized for its inaccuracy and biases. Such complexities have also risen due to the recent political turmoil in the United States caused by the protest in the support of the Black rights movement. As per the experts, it is likely to happen that biases will be present in the algorithms if it is found in the justice system. Therefore, a warning against crime has been notified.
There was a mismatch of more than 100 photos of UK politicians and US police mugshots via using the Amazon’s face recognition software. This mishap further gave weight age to the demands made by the software experts worldwide.
