AI experts warn against crime prediction algorithms, saying there are no 'physical features to criminality'

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The letter, signed by over 1000 experts, argues that data generated by the criminal justice system cannot be used to “identify criminals” or predict behaviour. Moreover, by continuing these studies, “’criminality’ operates as a proxy for race due to racially discriminatory practices in law enforcement and criminal justice, research of this nature creates dangerous feedback loops” the letter says. The incentives to drive machine learning research and development are greater than those that “interrogate the cultural logics and implicit assumptions underlying their models.” “At a time when the legitimacy of the carceral state, and policing in particular, is being challenged on fundamental grounds in the United States, there is high demand in law enforcement for research of this nature, research which erases historical violence and manufactures fear through the so-called prediction of criminality," the researchers say. Nevertheless, the researchers say that the publishing of such work “would represent a significant step towards the legitimation and application of repeatedly debunked, socially harmful research in the real world.” The letter specifically references a publication called “A Deep Neural Network Model to Predict Criminality Using Image Processing.” Researchers claimed in a press release that the system was “capable of predicting whether someone is likely going to be a criminal.