The Detrimental Impacts of AI in Criminal Cases
Author: Samhita Vasireddy
Editor: Jigyasa Prabhakar
Issue
The first time artificial intelligence was “discovered” was by Alan Turing in 1950. In 1952, John McCarthy started using the term “artificial intelligence”, leading to the birth of this field. From that point on, scientists, engineers and computer experts have been working to understand this modern technology. Ever since it has been discovered that AI can be used for various purposes, countries across the world have been utilizing it for their own objectives. At first, this new technology was like a newborn baby, with minimal skills. However, at present times, with new discoveries, AI is becoming advanced and smarter at a rapid pace and is being more integrated into our lives through the reflection of its purpose in judicial systems.
Judicial Systems
With all the advancements in AI, there has been an increase in discourse surrounding its necessity in potential uses. A small number of lawyers are using AI to save time by doing their work for them. However, some lawyers who depend on this technology have ended up submitting false information. Additionally, AI is being utilized to make decisions in court by analyzing evidence. This could backfire because it has been proven that artificial intelligence makes biased decisions. If whoever puts in the data has some sort of prejudice, then the entire system’s outcome could change due to that small data set.
Real Life Examples
While AI hasn’t been used to make final decisions in any legal case, it has damaged lives because of incorrect information. In the case of Porcha Woodruff, she was falsely accused of committing a crime because of facial recognition software. This technology had trouble differentiating between those of a darker skin color and assumed that Porcha was the suspect. Angry about being interrogated for 11 hours, they sued the Detroit government for falsely accusing her. In another case, a lawyer used ChatGPT to prosecute an airline that wronged his client. This attorney, Steven Schwartz, used this application to show some examples of previous cases of people versus airlines. However, upon further investigation, the court realized that these lawsuits never happened. If the court had not caught this, the airline could have had heavy losses. These are only some examples of how artificial intelligence can create racial stereotypes and lead to inaccurate claims.
Final Resolution
Utilizing AI for court cases has set the wrong precedent in various facets of judicial cases. Although there are some time efficiencies that are scaled with this usage of Ai, AI has highlighted that the decisions were biased and influenced by specific data. The solution to this problem would be to rely on AI less for legal matters and allow court decisions to be made by trustworthy human judges. Facial recognition should also not be relied on because of its biases. AI technology is taking over the jobs of people who need it. If humans don’t limit the use of artificial intelligence, then it will take over our way of life.
