Chinese Scientists Create Artificial Intelligent Prosecutors, Can Indict Suspects With 97 Percent Accuracy

Chinese scientists have created the world's first artificial intelligence "prosecutor". (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Chinese scientists say they have created the world's first artificial intelligence "prosecutor" who can indict suspects with "97 percent accuracy".

The AI engine emerged after the Communist-run country installed facial recognition devices and cameras across the country to check people's social behavior.

China's prosecution system, which runs on standard computers, can file charges for the eight most common crimes and participate in the decision-making process about suspects.

Technology adds to the pressure on people the ruling Communist Party deems dangerous, such as dissidents or Christians and others who worship outside the state church.

Researchers say the non-human prosecutor was built and tested at Shanghai's Pudong People's Procuratorate, the country's largest and busiest district attorney's office.

Prosecutors of AI prosecutors claim that the technology will reduce prosecutors' daily workload, allowing them to focus on more difficult tasks.

Professor Shi Yong, director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' large data management and knowledge management laboratory, said he was delighted to be the lead scientist of the project.

“The system can replace prosecutors in the decision-making process to some extent,” Shi and colleagues said in a paper cited by Chinese media.

He noted that the application of AI technology in law enforcement has increased worldwide. Chinese prosecutors were early adopters when they started using AI in 2016.

Many of them are now using an AI tool known as System 206. This tool can evaluate the strength of evidence, the conditions of arrest, and how “dangerous” a suspect is to the public.

So far, however, AI tools have had a limited role as "they don't participate in the decision-making process for filing charges and [suggesting] penalties," Shi said, as quoted by worthynews.com.

But the latest technology suggests that may be changing, despite rights groups' concerns about the fairness of trials in a country where suspects have been transferred to secret prisons and camps.