Genetic Algorithm Helps Identify Criminals

Ponca City, We love you writes to tell us that a new software approach to police sketch artists is finding surprising success in a trial run of 15 police departments in the UK and a few other sites. The software borrows principles from evolution with an interactive genetic algorithm that progressively changes as witnesses try to remember specific details. Current field trials are reporting an increase in successful identification by as much as double conventional methods. A short video with a few working shots of the new "EFIT-V" system is also available on YouTube. "[Researcher Christopher Solomon]'s software generates its own faces that progressively evolve to match the witness' memories. The witness starts with a general description such as 'I remember a young white male with dark hair.' Nine different computer-generated faces that roughly fit the description are generated, and the witness identifies the best and worst matches. The software uses the best fit as a template to automatically generate nine new faces with slightly tweaked features, based on what it learned from the rejected faces. 'Over a number of generations, the computer can learn what face you're looking for,' says Solomon. The mathematics underlying the software is borrowed from Solomon's experience using optics to image turbulence in the atmosphere in the 1990s."

Comments

This is actually very cool...

[jarrowwx]

This technology, at its core, is a little bit like PicBreeder. It doesn't include the complexification, but the principle is the same.

There is an argument about 'leading the witness' being bandied about as if that makes this thing useless. If you read the articles, they talk about that, and they show that it is no worse than any existing techniques, gets good results, and works for people that can't work with sketch artists.

The reality is, this technology has applications beyond what it is being used for.

• Imagine, a site that you can go to and evolve the face of the woman of your dreams?
• Or the face of a character in the book you are writing.
• Or an avatar for the video game you are playing.
• Or use the basic tech to create random faces for the crowd for an animated movie.

Personally, I would *LOVE* to be able to tinker with technology like this.

You got that right.

[NoYob]

I was thinking of a test case for this - the picture of Solomon didn't impress me one bit. Now, you can't have folks mugging test subjects or other violent things BUT there is way.

The test case:

Get a group of test subjects - college students are always great for this. Have your "assailant" run up to the subject and Yell, "Hi!" and then hand the "victim" a flower and then run off. Right then and there, the "victim" goes a "files a police report" with the researchers following typical police procedure.

After about a thousand tests on different subjects with statistically significant positive results, then and only then, will I start to believe this "technology" and maybe with more tests will I think it should be allowed as evidence in a court of law.

Other than that it just a gimmick - we're talking about taking people's freedom here or sentencing them to death.