Honors Panel hosts discussion about ethics of the FBI, criminal investigation, AI

On March 20, the Honors Program hosted its Honors Faculty Panel, which focused on the ethics of the FBI, criminal investigation, and artificial intelligence (AI). The panel, facilitated by the Honors Committee, welcomed students, faculty, and staff to participate in an important discussion and reflection on the increasing popularity and use of AI, particularly what this means for criminal investigation.

Photo by Isabella Paredes Mendoza ’24

Saint Michael’s panel speakers were Jeffrey Favreau, Director of Public Safety and Emergency Operations, Keir Willett, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, and John Trono, Professor of Computer Science and Chair of Computer Science and Information Systems.

Panelists pointed out how the implementation of artificial intelligence in criminal investigation seemed to be our response to human bias and its life-changing effects on the future of the people involved.

Photo by Isabella Paredes Mendoza ’24

Trono highlighted how people are inherently biased, and people will always be behind coding. These biases can be translated into their coding and be present in algorithms. Because AI algorithms make decisions based on data, this data often includes biased human perspectives, challenging the belief that artificial intelligence is objective, fair, and unbiased.

Panelists and the audience concluded that there is no such thing as objective and unbiased artificial intelligence, as humans are always behind coding, and humans are inherently biased.

Photo by Isabella Paredes Mendoza ’24