A Northumbria
University-led research team has received major funding from Responsible AI UK
(RAI UK) to investigate the future use of probabilistic AI in law enforcement.
Entitled PROBabLE Futures – Probabilistic
AI Systems in Law Enforcement Futures, the 4-year interdisciplinary research
project is one of only three RAI UK Keystone projects and has secured funding of
£3.4 million (80% FEC). It will be led by Northumbria Law School’s Professor Marion Oswald MBE, ‘in
collaboration with a team of multi-disciplinary co-investigators from
Northumbria, Glasgow (Michele Sevegnani and Muffy Calder), Northampton (Claire Paterson-Young and Michael Maher), Leicester (Carole McCartney), Cambridge (Adrian Weller) and Aberdeen (Lizzie Tiarks) universities,
and a number of law enforcement, commercial technology, third-sector and academic
partners.
The launch
of PROBabLE Futures was announced at the CogX Festival in Los Angeles – a
flagship event bringing together tech industry global leaders, changemakers and
policy makers to address the question `how do we get the next 10 years right’.
Explaining
the background to the research project and its impact, Professor Oswald said “AI
based technologies can deliver measurable benefits for police, courts and law
enforcement bodies, helping to tackle digital data overload, identify
previously unknown risks, and increase operational efficiencies. But a key
problem for responsible AI is that the uncertain or probable nature of
outputs is often obscured or misinterpreted. AI tools take inputs from one part
of the law enforcement system, and their outputs have real-world, possibly life
changing, effects in another part. Our research will aim to improve data quality and help
ensure that we avoid miscarriages of justice.
Professor Oswald
added “Our project, working alongside our law enforcement, third sector and
commercial partners, will
develop a framework to understand the implications of uncertainty and to build confidence in future Probabilistic AI in law
enforcement, with the interests of justice and
responsibility at its heart. We’re excited to work with
RAI UK and the other Keystone projects to consider the implications of our
research and our framework for other complex domains with probabilistic AI,
such as healthcare, and to learn from their research.”
Professor Gopal Ramchurn, Chief
Executive Officer of RAi UK, said: “These projects are the keystones of the
Responsible AI UK programme. They have been chosen by the community because they
address the most pressing challenges that society faces with the rapid advances
in AI. We are excited to be announcing these projects at CogX in Los Angeles
where some of the most influential AI representatives from industry and
government are present.
“The concerns around AI are not
just for governments and industry to deal with. It is important that AI experts
engage with researchers from other disciplines and policy makers to ensure that
we can better anticipate the issues that will be caused by AI. Our keystone
projects will do exactly that and work with the rest of the AI ecosystem to
bring others to our cause and amplify the impact of the research to maximise
the benefit of AI to everyone in society”.
Professor Louise Bracken, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and
Knowledge Exchange) at Northumbria, added: “AI is developing at a rapid pace
and its impact on society is significant and far reaching, so this is a hugely
important research project. To be the institutional lead, and to be collaborating
with other leading universities underscores Northumbria’s global position at
the forefront of research in responsible AI.”
Deputy Chief Constable, Chris Todd,
NPCC lead for data analytics said: “Advancements in AI are going to
bring about significant change to the way policing and the criminal justice system
operate. When used appropriately, technology enables policing to be more
precise, more efficient and ultimately offer the public a better service.
“As stated in the NPCC Artificial
Intelligence Charter, all forces are committed to using AI responsibly and with
the support of the public. To achieve this, we must have clear definitions and
ways to scrutinise, assure and oversee our development and use of AI-assisted
tools and this is something the Keystone project will help to deliver.
“We welcome this work and look forward
to seeing what impact it can have on policing.”
Professor
Oswald’s research expertise covers the legal and ethical implications of new
technologies in policing and national security. She has provided evidence and advice to the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee on the
use of new technologies in the justice system, including facial recognition and
AI. She is also a Senior Research Associate with
the Alan Turing Institute.
Northumbria
University has a global reputation for research and teaching in AI and was
recently awarded £9 million by UK Research and Innovation to establish a Centre
for Doctoral Training in the field of AI. To be known as the Citizen-Centred AI
(CCAI), it will focus on the inclusion of citizens in the design and evaluation
of AI – helping to make the rapidly advancing technology work for ordinary
people.
Funding
has been awarded by Responsible AI UK (RAi UK) and form the pillars of its
£31million programme that will run for four years. RAi UK is backed by UK
Research and Innovation (UKRI), through the UKRI Technology Missions Fund and
EPSRC.
Find
out more at: https://www.rai.ac.uk/
