The use of Artificial Intelligence in modern forensic science

A truly exceptional example of how Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and expert forensic science is tackling one of the biggest problems in law enforcement today. The work of Prof Dame Sue Black and Dr Bryan Williams is at the pioneering edge of AI and its application to ‘real world’ problems.

In an ever-increasing online world where social media platforms are misused for malicious, criminal purposes, projects such as H-unique offer a glimpse into what the future of policing and cyber forensics may look like as they attempt to address these challenges.

No international criminal justice agency has the resources to simply ‘arrest its way out’ of the toxic environment which is created as a result of crimes committed in the virtual world.

The Challenges Ahead

We can now harness the power of AI, the application of expert forensic knowledge and mathematical science to tackle the sheer scale of the challenge ahead. As cyber security professionals, we need to understand the approach. Can this work be successfully integrated into online platforms and cloud services, and what are the implications?

The Cyber Hacks

In the third episode of The Cyber Hacks podcast, we will look at Prof. Dame Sue Black and Dr Bryan William’s work in detail and examine the background to a successful research and law enforcement partnership that has established a phenomenal track record in the identification and prosecution of serious offenders.

Prof. Dame Sue Black is a leading forensic anthropologist, anatomist and academic. Sue’s work has been recognised nationally and internationally particularly in the fields of war crime investigations, mass fatality incidents and forensic casework. Dr Bryan Williams is a dedicated mathematician and computer scientist who leads a multi-million pound multidisciplinary project in medical imaging, biometrics and human identification at Lancaster University.

We will look at how deep feature biometrics are being captured, analysed, compared and used to differentiate suspects from offenders. Our expert panel will explain the significance of natural physical attributes such as ‘knuckle creases’ and talk us through the process of training AI to recognise the biometric ‘uniqueness’ of hands at a level of detail which in some instances provides better results than DNA comparison.

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

H-unique offers a proven solution to biometric offender identification that has withstood the rigorous scrutiny of our adversarial criminal justice process, including the associated courtroom drama of providing expert witness testimony under oath during cross examination. Despite robust scrutiny and the challenges made, the solution continues to support the delivery of justice beyond reasonable doubt. The track record is enviable, the work laudable and it is genuinely supporting those who serve to protect our society.

Join us on this podcast episode, ‘The Finger of Suspicion’ as we discuss the challenges and insight provided by the dedicated professionals who are leading this new development in AI from very different professional backgrounds: forensic anthropology, mathematics and computer science. Their work is truly inspiring.