Artificial intelligence (AI) in criminal justice has been pervasive for some time and will only grow in the future. AI’s impact on the criminal justice system in 2023 is immense, with significant influence on crime monitoring and prevention, judicial and correctional systems, and many other criminal justice practices. It’s not difficult to spot AI’s impact on public safety and criminal justice, from traffic safety systems to crime forecasts, criminal pattern recognition, and more. Even those who never expect to encounter the system are impacted by the use of AI in criminal justice in some fashion.

The use of AI in criminal justice is here to stay. As per a survey of criminal justice professionals, 48% believe AI technology will make policing more effective. Only 32% of criminal justice professionals believe AI can reduce racial bias in policing.

While AI has many fundamental roles in the criminal justice system, one major concern why I am writing this article is the ability of AI to generate videos. The ability of AI models such as SORA to generate highly realistic videos poses a significant challenge to criminal justice investigations.

Counterfeit Evidence

This technology can potentially be used to create false evidence, implicate innocent individuals, or exonerate the guilty. AI videos and deepfakes are also getting super realistic, which poses a significant challenge for law enforcement to identify between real and fake videos. This will potentially increase the time taken to process legal evidence.

Criminals may use AI to generate fake evidence, such as photos or videos, to discredit legitimate investigations or manipulate legal proceedings. This could include creating counterfeit crime scene images or doctoring surveillance footage to obstruct justice.

While other AI models can also help analyze video evidence to identify patterns that humans might miss, this will also increase the complexity of investigations. AIs are also known to be biased and highly inaccurate, which is especially crucial in a case scenario where an erroneous judgment might deem innocent individuals guilty.

Determining the authenticity of video evidence will require specialized expertise and resources, making investigations more complex and time-consuming.

Identity Theft

AI videos will make it easier for criminals to impersonate others convincingly. They can create fake identification documents or social media profiles, posing as law enforcement officers or even victims of crimes. This can lead to confusion, and false accusations, and undermine the credibility of genuine law enforcement efforts.

Detecting AI-generated materials is a challenge to law enforcement, which implies an increase in costs and time taken to solve crimes. Attempts to regulate who can use AI will also be futile since such attempts can be deemed unlawful and discriminatory.

Convincing the Jury

The use of AI in criminal law is especially problematic due to the potential consequences of making liberty-depriving decisions based on an algorithm. Society may trust these algorithms too much and make decisions based on their predictions, even if the technology may not be as “intelligent” as it appears.

There is a significant concern that such videos could easily sway the jury's opinion, effectively clouding their decisions. Previous highly charged emotional cases that have had extensive media coverage have always resulted in jury bias toward the defendants, even though the evidence might be fake or hearsay.