MOVIE NEWS – In a scenario straight out of Minority Report, the British government has confirmed it is developing an artificial intelligence system capable of predicting violent crimes before they happen. Officially known as the “Sharing Data to Improve Risk Assessment” initiative, this experimental project is raising alarms about privacy, ethics, and institutional bias.

Following global trends like Argentina’s crime-prediction AI announcement and China’s surveillance policies, the UK has quietly begun testing a system that analyzes data from hundreds of thousands of individuals to identify those at risk of committing serious crimes. The Ministry of Justice insists that the program only uses data from convicted offenders and incorporates factors such as name, gender, ethnicity, mental health, addiction issues, and disabilities. But watchdog organizations, including Statewatch, claim otherwise.

Accusations of Racial Profiling and Ethical Overreach

Civil rights groups argue that the UK’s new system mirrors a dystopian surveillance state. Statewatch asserts that not only are victims’ records being included—despite government denials—but that the model reinforces institutional racism. They warn that relying on historical criminal data, already skewed by decades of bias, will lead to unfair targeting of marginalized communities, particularly racial minorities and low-income groups.

Amnesty International echoed these concerns, pointing out that algorithms trained on biased data are inherently discriminatory. The organization cautioned that using AI for predictive policing poses serious risks to civil liberties and could normalize unjust law enforcement practices under the guise of technological progress.

Government Defends the Initiative Amid Global Adoption

In response to criticism, UK officials stress that the initiative is in a research phase and will not be rolled out anytime soon. They maintain that the system is an extension of existing risk assessment tools already in use to determine the likelihood of reoffending among released prisoners. Furthermore, the government points to similar developments in other countries as justification for its approach—highlighting that Argentina, South Korea, and China are already pursuing predictive crime technologies as part of their public safety strategies.

Nevertheless, human rights advocates continue to call for the project’s immediate suspension, urging the government to invest in social programs and proven preventative measures rather than what they describe as “high-risk, racially biased AI experiments.”

Source: 3DJuegos