In October 2022, INTERPOL announced the creation of its Metaverse “twin” – a virtual Headquarters that would, as a first step, serve as an immersive training space for law enforcement professionals. In our previous blog on this topic we discussed what it means for the future of virtual policing, from both pragmatic and regulatory perspective. Almost 10 months later INTERPOL and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) unveiled their joint “Toolkit for Responsible AI Innovation in Law Enforcement” (the “Toolkit”), a guide for law enforcement professionals worldwide on developing and using AI responsibly.
In the Foreword to the Toolkit, INTERPOL’s Secretary General Juergen Stock expresses INTERPOL’s commitment to “making both physical and virtual realms safer” and states that the document stands as “a testament to INTERPOL’s ongoing commitment to fostering an innovative and proactive law enforcement culture”.
The Toolkit promises to provide law enforcement agencies with “theoretical foundation on responsible AI innovation based on human rights law, ethics and policing principles, as well as several practical tools to support them with putting responsible AI innovation theory into practice at each and every stage of their AI journey”. The Toolkit provides guidance for law enforcement agencies and professionals across the globe, whilst recognising that national authorities have the ultimate responsibility and autonomy over regulating the use of AI.
There is no doubt that the Toolkit brings some of the pressing issues in the global AI discourse to the surface, like mitigating risks of discrimination throughout the AI life cycle, assessing the legitimacy, necessity and proportionality of deploying AI and its interference with human rights, the accuracy of facial recognition technology, public algorithms registers and whether transparency compromises law enforcement work.
It is interesting and encouraging to see INTERPOL stepping up, in partnership with UNICRI as a stewardship voice for responsible use of AI in law enforcement, particularly at a time when it is clear that risks brought by AI are exacerbated by lack of effective global governance mechanisms. It remains to be seen how INTERPOL will fare in steering AI regulations in a direction that is, at a minimum, ethical and legal, and whether it will have an impact on repairing damage already done by practices in which the use of AI has impacted human rights and civil liberties.
Further Information
If you have any questions or concerns about the topics raised in this blog, please contact any member of the Criminal Litigation team.
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