If you thought that Minority Report was a picture of an ideal world then you're in luck, as researchers have demonstrated that AI now has the capacity to predict crimes a week before they happen.
AI has positively exploded in the last few years, with people using it for a manner of different things from university essays to booking their dream holiday, and AI has even powered bizarre dating apps.
What if AI was so intelligent though that it would see into the future, showing a capacity for predicting crimes before they've even occurred - surely that's too good to be true?
Well, if you follow research produced by the University of Chicago this isn't too distant of a reality, as their AI has shown the capacity to predict with around a 90% success rate.
Advert
As reported by Wired, the study uses historical crime data from eight major US cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia to predict crime rates within 1,000-square-foot areas.
Ishanu Chattopadhyay, the lead of the study, compared the research data to 'dark clouds' that prophesize upcoming rain: "We discover patterns in event logs, and apply these patterns to calculate risk of an event in future at specific locations... just here the patterns (the dark clouds) are much more subtle, and harder to recognize and reason with."
The focus here then is that you're not pulling out specific crimes and identifying individuals, but instead using past crime data to infer that future activity is likely to occur again in specific key areas.
"We do not focus on predicting individual behavior," insists Chattopadhyay, "and do not suggest that anyone be changed with a crime that they didn't commit, or be incarcerated for that."
Any wannabe Tom Cruise figures out there had better cool off their ambitions then, as this form of AI won't be able to tell any specifics or be used to target individuals - at least, that's the hope of Chattopadhyay.
It certainly does raise questions regarding the ethics of future crime prediction, as how do you reasonably charge somebody with a crime that they haven't yet - or might not even - commit?
It's a hypothesis that's central to both Phillip K. Dick's story and Steven Spielberg's film, and hopefully won't be something we'll have to reckon with in the near future.
What this use of AI will hopefully be able to assist with though is the allocation of resources, as predicted trends will hopefully allow police departments to plan proactively and be prepared for what is likely to be needed - although you can never know for sure.
Some have also raised concerns over the data's potential bias, which is a genuine risk when considering the arguable subjectivity of arrests and convictions.
One post on the r/polls subreddit asked users if they'd want an AI implemented in their city that could predict crimes with 100% accuracy, and 60% answered yes.
The comments are understanibly split - especially on the implementation - with one user remarking: "It depends. Would it prevent the crime from being committed or would it pre-arrest someone for a crime not commited?"
Another argues that it "depends on the crimes it detects," going on to say that "if I saw a pregnant lady stealing food at a gas station then I'm not saying s***, that's depressing as hell."
It goes to show that there's always going to be flaws in a system like this, and there's likely no 'perfect' scenario where every angle is accounted for.