News

Face-Reading AI Will Tell Police When Suspects Are Hiding Truth

American psychologist Paul Ekman’s research on facial expressions spawned a whole new career of human lie detectors more than four decades ago. Artificial intelligence could soon take their jobs.

While the U.S. has pioneered the use of automated technologies to reveal the hidden emotions and reactions of suspects, the technique is still nascent and a whole flock of entrepreneurial ventures are working to make it more efficient and less prone to false signals.

Facesoft, a U.K. start-up, says it has built a database of 300 million images of faces, some of which have been created by an AI system modeled on the human brain, The Times reported. The system built by the company can identify emotions like anger, fear and surprise based on micro-expressions which are often invisible to the casual observer.


“If someone smiles insincerely, their mouth may smile, but the smile doesn’t reach their eyes — micro-expressions are more subtle than that and quicker,” co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Allan Ponniah, who’s also a plastic and reconstructive surgeon in London, told the newspaper.

Facesoft has approached police in Mumbai about using the system for monitoring crowds to detect the evolving mob dynamics, Ponniah said. It has also touted its product to police forces in the U.K.


Former Gambino associate turned New Jersey councilman accused of running loansharking ring while in office
Supreme Court reinstates conviction in 1979 Etan Patz murder
Judge Releases Surveillance Footage of Karmelo Anthony’s Murder of Austin Metcalf
NYPD Officer Jumps on Top of Vehicle and Shoots Suspect Who Hit Multiple Officers
Chicago resident living in shadows of Obama Presidential Center reveal chaos caused by years-long construction
Alan Greenspan dies at age 100
Attacks Against Christians Rise in Major European Country
District court judges weighing Trump policies face repeated slap downs by appeals courts
Pence says Iran agreement ‘smacks of the kind of appeasement’ Trump rejected in prior term
Supreme Court Allows Gun Ruling Favoring Letitia James to Stand
Obama Center isn’t a traditional presidential library. Critics say it’s an activism center.
New York races to watch: Which battles could shape the Democratic Party’s future?
Ex-Dem insider reveals she will expose Democrats who covered up Biden’s cognitive decline in new book
NYPD cop shoots suspect attempting to flee in stolen vehicle, officials say
Georgia pair charged with murder after bartender’s dismembered remains found in lake outside Atlanta

The use of AI algorithms among police has stirred controversy recently. A research group whose members include Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc published a report in April stating that current algorithms aimed at helping police determine who should be granted bail, parole or probation, and which help judges make sentencing decisions, are potentially biased, opaque, and may not even work.

See also  Illegal immigrants among 15 charged in $1.4 million Massachusetts benefits fraud crackdown

The Partnership on AI found that such systems are already in widespread use in the U.S. and were gaining a foothold in other countries too. It said it opposes any use of these systems.

Story cited here.

Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter