Computers v. Crime

In police departments and courts across the country, artificial intelligence is being used to help decide who is policed, who gets bail, how offenders should be sentenced, and who gets parole. But is it actually making our law enforcement and court systems fairer and more just? This timely investigation digs into the hidden biases, privacy risks, and design flaws of this controversial technology.

These computer programs use artificial intelligence to look for patterns in data without human instruction.

A machine learns from what’s programmed into it—and sometimes, that reinforces historical, discriminatory practices.