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Japan trials AI-assisted predictive policing before 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Japan’s system would employ a ‘deep learning’ method, in which artificial intelligence learns by itself based on big data

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Japan’s predictive policing scheme will use artificial intelligence, not psychics to catch criminals. Photo: Handout

Police in Japan plan to introduce predictive policing, a method of anticipating the occurrence of crimes and accidents using artificial intelligence.

Kanagawa police near Tokyo hope to put a predictive policing system into practice on a trial basis before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, sources said.

A system to analyse whether the perpetrator of several crimes is the same, predict an offender’s next move and detect the locations and time in and during which crimes or accidents are likely to take place would help police officers investigate crimes and prevent some from happening, they said.

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Police officers would be able to patrol the suggested places during the relevant times to ensure safety, while the system would also help speed up probes, according to the sources.

It’s not quite the stuff of science fiction portrayed in Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report where police apprehend criminals based on foreknowledge provided by psychics.

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Japan’s system would employ a “deep learning” method, in which AI learns by itself based on big data. It would encompass criminology knowledge and mathematical schemes in statistics, taking in data about the time, place, weather condition, geographical condition and various other aspects of past crimes or accidents.

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