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Police used AI facial recognition to wrongly arrest TN woman for crimes in ND

cnn.com

31–40 of 221 posts

Re: Police used AI facial recognition to wrongly arrest TN woman for crimes in ND

#31
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Used incorrectly will lead to errors. Only one small little problem --- there is no way to tell if you are using it "correctly". The only way to be sure is to not use it. Using it basically boils down to, "Do you feel lucky?". The Fargo police didn't get lucky in this case. And now the liability kicks in.

Some basic investigatory police work (the kind they did before AI) would have revealed the mistake before an innocent woman’s life was destroyed.

Yes. But doing the investigation negates much of the incentive for using AI.

Look for similar to play out elsewhere --- using unreliable tools for decision making is not a good, responsible business plan. And lawyers are just waiting to press the point.

Re: Police used AI facial recognition to wrongly arrest TN woman for crimes in ND

#32
This is a weak or misleading story about AI.

First, the detective used the FaceSketchID system, which has been around since around 2014. It is not new or uniquely tied to modern AI.

Second, the system only suggests possible matches. It is still up to the detective to investigate further and decide whether to pursue charges. And then it is up to court to issue the warrant.

The real question is why she was held in jail for four months. That is the part that I do not understand. My understanding is that there is 30-day limit (the requesting state must pick up the defendant within 30 day). Regarding the individual involved, Angela Lipps, she has reportedly been arrested before, so it is possible she was on parole. So maybe they were holding her because of that?

Can someone clarify how that process works?

Re: Police used AI facial recognition to wrongly arrest TN woman for crimes in ND

#33
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some basic investigatory police work (the kind they did before AI) would have revealed the mistake before an innocent woman’s life was destroyed.

Yes. But doing the investigation negates much of the incentive for using AI. Look for similar to play out elsewhere --- using unreliable tools for decision making is not a good, responsible business plan. And lawyers are just waiting to press the point.

AI can provide leads. Someone still needs to verify them and decide.

Re: Police used AI facial recognition to wrongly arrest TN woman for crimes in ND

#35
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some basic investigatory police work (the kind they did before AI) would have revealed the mistake before an innocent woman’s life was destroyed.

Yes. But doing the investigation negates much of the incentive for using AI. Look for similar to play out elsewhere --- using unreliable tools for decision making is not a good, responsible business plan. And lawyers are just waiting to press the point.

In this case it sounds as though AI could have been used to generate preliminary leads. When someone calls a tip line with information, police don’t just take their word for it, they investigate it. They know that tips they receive may be incorrect. They should have done the exact same here, but they didn’t.

I’m very opposed to AI in general, but this one is clearly human failure.

The noteworthy AI angle is the undeserved credence police gave to AI information. But that is ultimately their failure; they should be investigating all information they receive.

Re: Police used AI facial recognition to wrongly arrest TN woman for crimes in ND

#36
post #6

[flagged]

What? Women are much more sympathetic figures when it comes to crime and punishment. And there are 10x more men in prison in america than women. If you were trying to "introduce" some nefarious law enforcement system to the US you would use it on undesirable men first (drug addicts and gang members)

Re: Police used AI facial recognition to wrongly arrest TN woman for crimes in ND

#38
post #32

This is a weak or misleading story about AI. First, the detective used the FaceSketchID system, which has been around since around 2014. It is not new or uniquely tied to modern AI. Second, the system only suggests possible matches. It is still up to the detective to investigate further and decide whether to pursue charges. And then it is up to court to issue the warrant. The real question is why she was held in jail…

In the US there are no consequences for people in power failing to follow procedures, laws or regulations - except for being told to stop doing whatever illegal thing they're doing, and possibly getting sued way down the line, which gets paid by taxpayers.

Re: Police used AI facial recognition to wrongly arrest TN woman for crimes in ND

#39
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dynamite is a tool. But we don't hand it out to anyone who wants to play with it.

We used to until quite recently. Anybody could buy dynamite at the hardware store. We had to end this because of criminals using it to hurt people.

I admit I was surprised to see you could buy dynamite in a hardware store until 1970.

Re: Police used AI facial recognition to wrongly arrest TN woman for crimes in ND

#40

Money quote from someone quoted in the article: "[I]t’s not just a technology problem, it’s a technology and people problem." I can't. I just can't.

I've been hearing "it's not just... it's a" touted as an AI sign recently, personally I think it's an AI sign because it's a human thinking shortcut sign, and AI copies it, but it would be funny if AI wrote the article and then hallucinated this specific money quote.
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