A.I. (general thread for any AI-related topics)

[Robert Zwilling]

The promise of social media is that literally anyone can make a video about anything and broadcast it on a stage that can be seen by the entire world. After this concept has been run a trillion times, the resulting image becomes the machinery behind the stage, which is simply a machine that harvests money.

 

[Foxbat]

An interesting article.

Should AI play an ever-growing role in tackling crime?

Artificial intelligence is being increasingly used by police forces, but critics are worried.

www.bbc.co.uk

I'm not sure how I feel about it.

On the one hand, with UK forces apparently suffering from a persistent shortage of officers, I can see how it might be attractive but, on the other, I do wonder how long before somebody gets a knock on the door and the policeman says: 'I'm arresting you on the grounds that our software says that you are 99% likely to commit a crime.'

 

[CupofJoe]

As they say in the article... any AI system is only as good as the data it learns from. If the data is skewed or biased, then so will be its decisions.
But the ability to search records and collate data to inform [but not make] a decision is useful

 

[Robert Zwilling]

There are a lot of paper trails in all the different memory banks that are never looked at. The computers don't share what they have recorded mainly because there was no common language for them to compare notes with and it takes a long time for people to read through it all, if they ever do. It would go along way towards prosecuting/preventing insurance and medical fraud. Automatically giving the call a rating besides giving the officers a heads up as to what they are walking into could also determine how fast they are going to respond. Poorly stated calls should go straight to a person but when automation steps in there are generally fewer people around to respond in person. We've all had the situation where you're not done talking yet and the machine is saying thank you for calling, goodbye.

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

There are a lot of paper trails in all the different memory banks that are never looked at. The computers don't share what they have recorded mainly because there was no common language for them to compare notes with and it takes a long time for people to read through it all, if they ever do. It would go along way towards prosecuting/preventing insurance and medical fraud. Automatically giving the call a rating besides giving the officers a heads up as to what they are walking into could also determine how fast they are going to respond. Poorly stated calls should go straight to a person but when automation steps in there are generally fewer people around to respond in person. We've all had the situation where you're not done talking yet and the machine is saying thank you for calling, goodbye.

An analog example of this took place in Ohio. The state of Ohio put such a low priority on investigating rapes that by 2012 Ohio had tens of thousand of untested rape kits. In 2012 the state attorney general ordered all rape kits to be processed. The Cleveland area alone had over 14,000 untested kits. From the 2018 article:
"...Over 700 alleged rapists in Cuyahoga County alone have been indicted."

Backlog of 14,000 rape kits finally cleared

Victim after victim came forward, thinking her kit had long been tested only to learn it's been sitting on a shelf for year and in some cases decades.

www.news5cleveland.com