👮‍♀️ Police Uses AI Portraits Instead of Sketches

The police in Goodyear, Arizona, posted an image of a shooting suspect on social media. But it wasn't a standard police sketch—it was a picture generated by ChatGPT ⤴️

Forensic artist Mike Bonasera created the suspect's portrait in the usual way: he first made a hand-drawn sketch based on witness descriptions, and only then turned it into a more realistic and detailed image using AI.

This is the second time the department has turned to neural networks. After their first experiment in April, the department received hundreds of tips about a possible suspect—far more than they get when publishing ordinary drawings.

"Usually, when you just put out a sketch, people tend to not really engage with it as much. It's making people look," explains Bonasera.

👁‍🗨 However, the schematic nature of hand-drawn sketches is actually their advantage, argues Brandon Garrett, a professor at Duke University School of Law. People understand that the features in them are approximate. An AI image can be just as inaccurate. Still, its realism is misleading and gives a false sense of certainty, increasing the risk of confusing an innocent person with a suspect.

@hiaimediaen