This Freaky AI Programme Generates Police Sketches Of Potential Suspects

Artificial intelligence is taking off in ways more than one. While our current understanding of AI tools makes us think of content creation and image generation, AIs possess the capability to do much more.

For instance, two developers recently used OpenAI's DALL-E 2 image generation model to set up a forensic sketch programme to build "hyper-realistic" police sketches of a suspect based on user prompts.

Forensic Sketch AIrtist

Yep, it works the same way as ChatGPT, but with more serious implications. The programme is called Forensic Sketch AIrtist and was created by developers Artur Fortunato and Filipe Reynaud as part of a hackathon in December 2022, Vice reported.

The dangers and merits of AI in police work

According to a presentation available online, the developers wanted to significantly cut down on the time it takes to draw a suspect sketch "which is around two to three hours."

Number 3481 of things you should *not* use generative models for : forensic sketches ?
(I'm not sharing the direct link to the code for this, but it's not that hard to find, either..) pic.twitter.com/wYwedD5q42

¡ª Dr. Sasha Luccioni ???? (@SashaMTL) February 1, 2023

Currently, the developers are trying to reach out to police departments to test out the programme, they told Vice. However, it's not a straightforward journey. Many AI tools inadvertently end up reproducing the gender and racial biases that exist in the physical world.

Also read: Google Unveils Conversational AI Service 'Bard' That Will Rival ChatGPT

The programme requires users to provide information about the physical appearance of any potential suspect, including gender, skin, eyebrows, nose, beard, hair, age, eyes, and jaw. Through its open description feature, users can type in any description of the suspect to generate a profile. The description is then sent to DALL-E 2 to produce an AI-generated portrait.

Forensic Sketch AIrtist

In various societies, this could have different implications. In the US where racial relations are tense and where Black people are five times more likely to be stopped by the police, AI could intensify such differences. In the US alone, 25% of all wrongful convictions stemmed from police sketches.

DALL-E 2 is brimming with biases. For instance, when asked to generate an image of a CEO, it automatically shows a white man, as stated by Sasha Luccioni, who tweeted about the police sketch programme.

Pexels

Also read: Microsoft's Bing Search Engine, Edge Browser Get New ChatGPT AI Features

But Fortunato and Reynaud say that their programme runs on the assumption that police descriptions may be trusted. While this in itself is noble, it doesn't really do much to eliminate concerns surrounding AI bias, and there is no metric to measure the accuracy of an AI generated image.

What do you think about using AI tools to generate sketches of potential suspects? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.