PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Apparently based on little more than one study, this new application is gaining traction in Spain, and may well spread throughout Europe and beyond. (A recent article in Scientific American made no mention of any possible downsides or risks. So far I have seen considerable attention to the novelty - but scant attention to the possible risk that use of VeriPol -or systems like it - will end up convicting innocent individuals of public mischief, insurance fraud and obstructing the police. Sounds a bit too good to be true. I will keep my eyes on this one!
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Developed by experts at Cardiff University, VeriPol, uses a
combination of automatic text analysis and artificial intelligence to
recognise when somebody has been lying or exaggerating to the police.
Thousands of false reports are submitted to the police each year with
many perpetrators hoping to receive inflated insurance payouts or
claims for crimes that never happened in the first place. But
according to the researchers there are certain tell-tale signs contained
in written statements which can be quickly identified by the new
software. Using algorithms the machine is able to carefully analyse various
features in the text, such as adjectives, acronyms, verbs, nouns,
punctuation marks and numbers. Experts claim a false statement is more likely to contain certain
traits and giveaway signs, that can be spotted using artificial
intelligence. It is thought false statements are more likely to be shorter than
genuine ones and focus on the details of the stolen property rather than
the incident itself. They
are also thought to be lacking in certain details about the perpetrator
and the attack itself. The team behind the technology believe it could
help police forces
save valuable time and effort in investigating fake crimes and will also
help deter people from filing false reports in the first place."
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can spot if someone-----------------------------------------------------------
GIST: "British scientists have developed a new computer programme that can spot if someone has lied to police about being robbed. The groundbreaking software analyses the wording of a victim's statement in order to identify tell tale signs of fake reports. Spanish police, who have been using the tool, found it was successful
in more than 80 per cent of cases helping them to identify 64 false
reports in just one week. Developed by experts at Cardiff University, VeriPol, uses a
combination of automatic text analysis and artificial intelligence to
recognise when somebody has been lying or exaggerating to the police. Thousands of false reports are submitted to the police each year with
many perpetrators hoping to receive inflated insurance payouts or
claims for crimes that never happened in the first place. But
according to the researchers there are certain tell-tale signs contained
in written statements which can be quickly identified by the new
software. Using algorithms the machine is able to carefully analyse various
features in the text, such as adjectives, acronyms, verbs, nouns,
punctuation marks and numbers. Experts claim a false statement is more likely to contain certain
traits and giveaway signs, that can be spotted using artificial
intelligence. It is thought false statements are more likely to be shorter than
genuine ones and focus on the details of the stolen property rather than
the incident itself. They are also thought to be lacking in certain details about the perpetrator and the attack itself. The team behind the technology believe it could help police forces
save valuable time and effort in investigating fake crimes and will also
help deter people from filing false reports in the first place. Dr Jose Camacho-Collados, from Cardiff University’s School of
Computer Science and Informatics, who helped develop the technology,
said: “Our study has given us a fascinating insight into how people lie
to the police, and a tool that can be used to deter people from doing so
in the future. “Police officers across Spain are now using VeriPol and integrating
it into their working practices. Ultimately we hope that by showing that
automatic detection is possible it will deter people from lying to the
police in the first instance.”"
The entire article can be read at:
The entire article can be read at:
Read the Scientific American article at:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-algorithm-that-can-spot-when-people-lie-to-the-police/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-algorithm-that-can-spot-when-people-lie-to-the-police/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
