In the US, facial recognition software based on artificial intelligence led to the wrongful imprisonment of a Tennessee resident who was mistakenly identified as a suspect in bank fraud.
This is reported by Finway
The Story of Angela Lipps: How a Technological Error Changed a Life
50-year-old Angela Lipps from Tennessee narrowly avoided becoming a victim of a serious judicial error. She spent nearly six months in custody after the Fargo, North Dakota police used a facial recognition system to investigate bank fraud. The software incorrectly identified Lipps as a suspect, even though she was not in the state where the crime occurred.
The victim is a mother of three and a grandmother of five, having lived her entire life in north-central Tennessee and never having flown on an airplane. In July, federal marshals arrested Angela at home while she was caring for her children. Armed, they took her into custody and sent her to the county jail as a suspected fugitive from North Dakota.
“The woman spent nearly four months in a Tennessee jail without the possibility of bail, awaiting extradition. She was charged with multiple counts of unauthorized use of personal data and theft.”
Investigation and Consequences of the AI Error
The Fargo police analyzed surveillance footage showing a woman with a fake ID withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars from accounts. The facial recognition software pointed to Lipps due to similarities in facial features, build, and hairstyle. However, Angela’s lawyer was able to prove her innocence by providing bank statements that confirmed she was in Tennessee at the time of the crime, over 1200 miles away from the scene.
After this, Lipps was released on the eve of Christmas. However, the woman reported that the police did not apologize to her, and due to her prolonged detention, she lost her home, car, and pet.
This incident is not isolated in the US. There are other known cases where facial recognition algorithms have made mistakes. For example, in Maryland, a security system mistook a bag of chips for a weapon, leading to the arrest of a student.
The case of Angela Lipps raises questions about the safety of using artificial intelligence technologies in law enforcement and highlights the need for improved verification mechanisms for the results of automated systems.