AI is invading UK policing, but there's little proof it's useful

Police forces around the UK have realised the potential of artificial intelligence – and now they're starting to use it. Tests include facial recognition systems, ways to predict where crime will happen and systems that help with making decisions. But the setup is a complex mess and there's little proof that the technologies are actually benefitting anyone. "These trials don't appear to be evaluated in a very transparent way," says Alexander Babuta, a national security and resilience research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI). "Before we move ahead with large scale deployment of this kind of technology we really need more evidence of how it affects decision making in the field."