Researchers use AI to predict crime, biased policing in major U.S. cities like L.A.

For once, algorithms that predict crime might be used to uncover bias in policing, instead of reinforcing it. A group of social and data scientists developed a machine learning tool it hoped would better predict crime. The scientists say they succeeded, but their work also revealed inferior police protection in poorer neighborhoods in eight major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles. Instead of justifying more aggressive policing in those areas, however, the hope is the technology will lead to "changes in policy that result in more equitable, need-based resource allocation," including sending officials other than law enforcement to certain kinds of calls, according to a report published Thursday in the journal Nature Human Behavior. The tool, developed by a team led by University of Chicago professor Ishanu Chattopadhyay, forecasts crime by spotting patterns amid vast amounts of public data on property crimes and crimes of violence, learning from the data as it goes.