中国利用人工智能预测犯罪
中国是一个监控国家，当局可以不受限制地对公民过往的言行进行审查。如今，中国正试图利用旨在预测和防止犯罪的技术来窥视他们的未来。
Companies are helping police develop artificial intelligence they say will help them identify and apprehend suspects before criminal acts are committed.
中国企业正在协助警方开发人工智能，并称这将有助于警方在犯罪行为实施之前识别和逮捕嫌疑人。
“If we use our smart systems and smart facilities well, we can know beforehand . . . who might be a terrorist, who might do something bad,” Li Meng, vice-minister of science and technology, said on Friday.
中国科技部副部长李萌上周五表示，如果能好好利用智能系统和智能设备，就能提前获知哪些人可能是恐怖分子，哪些人可能做坏事。
Facial recognition company Cloud Walk has been trialling a system that uses data on individuals’ movements and behaviour — for instance visits to shops where weapons are sold — to assess their chances of committing a crime. Its software warns police when a citizen’s crime risk becomes dangerously high, allowing the police to intervene.
人脸识别公司云从科技(Cloud Walk)一直在测试一种系统，利用个人活动和行为的数据——比如出入销售武器的商店——评估他们犯罪的可能性。当一名公民的犯罪风险达到危险级别时，该公司的软件会提醒警方，让警察提前介入。
“The police are using a big-data rating system to rate highly suspicious groups of people based on where they go and what they do,” a company spokesperson told the Financial Times.
云从科技一名发言人对英国《金融时报》表示：“警方正利用一个大数据评级系统，基于人们前往的地点和行为，对高度可疑的人群进行评级。”
Risks rise if the individual “frequently visits transport hubs and goes to suspicious places like a knife store”, the spokesperson added.
该发言人补充说，如果一个人“频繁地出入交通枢纽，并前往刀具店之类的可疑地点”，该人的风险级别就会上升。
China’s authoritarian government has always amassed personal data to monitor and control its citizens — whether they are criminals or suspected of politically sensitive activity. But new technology, from phones and computers to fast-developing AI software, is amplifying its capabilities.
中国的威权政府一直通过收集个人数据来监视和控制本国公民——无论他们是罪犯，还是被怀疑从事政治敏感活动。但是，包括手机、电脑、快速发展的人工智能软件在内的新技术正在增强政府的监视能力。
These are being used to crack down on even the most minor of infractions — facial recognition cameras, for instance, are also being used to identify and shame jaywalkers, according to state media.
据官方媒体报道，这些技术正在用于打击哪怕是最轻微的违规行为——例如，人脸识别摄像头还被用于识别和曝光乱穿马路的行人。
Mr Li said crime prediction would become an important use for AI technology in the government sphere.
李萌表示，犯罪预测将成为人工智能技术在政府领域的重要应用。
China’s crime-prediction technology relies on several AI techniques, including facial recognition and gait analysis, to identify people from surveillance footage.
中国的犯罪预测技术依赖于多种人工智能技术来通过监控录像识别个人，包括人脸识别和步态分析。
In addition, “crowd analysis” can be used to detect “suspicious” patterns of behaviour in crowds, for example to single out thieves from normal passengers at a train stations.
另外，“人群分析”可以用来检测人群中“可疑”的行为模式，例如在火车站的正常乘客中识别出小偷。
As well as tracking people with a criminal history, Cloud Walk’s technology is being used to monitor “high-risk” places such as knife and hammer stores.
除了用来跟踪有案底的人，云从科技的技术还被用来监控“高风险”场所，比如出售刀具和榔头的商店。
“Of course, if someone buys a kitchen knife that’s OK, but if the person also buys a sack and a hammer later, that person is becoming suspicious,” said the Cloud Walk spokesman.
云从科技发言人表示：“当然，如果有人买了把菜刀是没问题的，但如果这个人随后又买了一个麻袋和一把榔头，这个人就变得可疑了。”
Another example of AI use in Chinese crime prediction is “personal re-identification” — matching someone’s identity even if spotted in different places wearing different clothes, a relatively recent technological achievement.
人工智能在中国犯罪预测中运用的另一个例子是“个人再识别”：即使观测到某人在不同场所身穿不同服装也能匹配其身份，这是一个相对较新的技术成果。
“We can use re-ID to find people who look suspicious by walking back and forth in the same area, or who are wearing masks,” said Leng Biao, professor of bodily recognition at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. “With re-ID, it’s also possible to reassemble someone’s trail across a large area.”
北京航空航天大学(Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics)从事人体识别研究的教授冷彪表示：“我们可以用再识别技术来查找那些看起来可疑的人士，他们或者在同一个地方来来回回地走，或者戴着口罩。有了再识别技术，还可以重构某人在大片区域的踪迹。”
However, the nascent technology raises questions about the potential for miscarriages of justice — particularly in a country that legal experts say lacks the necessary checks and balances in its judicial system.
但是这一新兴技术也提出了有关可能存在误判的问题，尤其在一个法律专家表示司法系统缺乏必要制衡的国家。
Although Chinese law does not allow charges to be brought against someone for a crime they have yet to commit, suspects can be charged with attempting to commit crimes.
虽然中国法律不允许对尚未犯罪的人提出犯罪指控，但可以指控嫌疑人企图犯罪。
“In practice if there is no evidence the suspect could still be charged,” said Li Xiaolin, a partner at Beijing Weiheng Law Firm. “In China wrongful verdicts with no evidence are very hard to reverse on appeal, because of the judicial system.”
北京市炜衡律师事务所(Weiheng Law Firm)合伙人李肖霖表示：“实际上就算没有证据，嫌疑人依然可以被指控。在中国，由于司法制度的原因，没有证据的误判很难在上诉时扭转。”
