In abstract, AI is a transformational technology. It may bring perfect and rigorous decision analysis, sweeping away human foibles. Or it may displace human sensitivity and judgement – and indeed the humans themselves – and usher in an era of opaque and arbitrary decision making.
This article, which focuses on the introduction of AI to Durham Constabulary, is a good antidote to those caricature extremes. Reality is, as ever, messier than that. Predictability and accountability are not straightforward. Humans tend to revert, perhaps unwisely, to confidence in their own judgements. It is not clear that some kinds of data are appropriately used in prediction models at all (though the black boxes of human brains are equally problematic). In short, the application of AI to policing decisions isn’t simple and clear cut, it is instead a confused and uncertain set of policy problems. That shouldn’t be surprising.