Japan making 'pre-crime' AI to predict money laundering, terror attacks

Japan's police and military are to separately begin tests of artificial intelligence systems to predict crimes and the activities of suspicious vessels at sea, including the potential threats foreign ships may pose to Japanese territory. The National Police Agency is to request Y144 million (US$1.29 million) in its budget for 2019 to test the ability of artificial intelligence to forecast crimes like money laundering, terrorist attacks at major public events and incidents involving vehicles. The Mainichi newspaper said a system capable of predicting the likelihood and possible location of crimes would eventually be rolled out to police forces across the country "as soon as possible" to make efforts to avert criminal activity more effective. "From a security point of view, Japan is perhaps one of the least advanced nations in the world simply because we have a relatively low level of crime," said Morinosuke Kawaguchi, an innovation and technology consultant. "The US and the UK are ...