Policing the bots - why the role of AI in law enforcement is encouraging, but fraught with danger

It is customary to begin any look at AI and its impact on policing and the judicial system by citing the 2002 Tom Cruise movie Minority Report, in which a specialized police unit was tasked with arresting people for crimes they had not yet committed. Predictive AI for the popcorn-guzzling masses nearly a quarter of a century ago. (And even longer if you factor in Philip K Dick’s original short story on which it was loosely based.)

Still, even today that’s is just sci-fi, yes? Well, up to a point. There are those who reckon that it’s the way ahead for policing - and there have been so-called predictive policing pilots out there in the real world. In Pasco County, Florida, the Sheriff’s department used AI to draw up a list of people considered likely to commit crimes and then repeatedly sent deputies to their homes, with ...