If an unknown criminal leaves one fingerprint in one place and another fingerprint in another, the two locations cannot be linked because the individual fingerprints are different and cannot be linked, according to experts. But this fact has greatly complicated the investigation so far Columbia University According to the news, it seems that this problem can be solved with the help of artificial intelligence. About search Advancement of science Reported in a magazine.
The researchers trained artificial intelligence based on a database containing 60,000 fingerprints. Fingerprints were read in pairs, in some cases two different fingers of the same person, in other cases of different people. Over time, artificial intelligence has slowly become able to tell whether fingerprints are from the same person, and determine whether they are from strangers. In the case of a pair of fingerprints, the accuracy was 77 percent, and if several pairs could be examined, this percentage rose to 88 percent, making identification about ten times more efficient than it is now.
However, the results are very surprising! Until now, forensic experts knew that it was not possible to compare and correlate a person's different fingerprints. So what is the secret to MI's success? Since it is not possible to find these correlations using known methods, the researchers analyzed the steps in which the artificial intelligence performed its own analyses. Detailed investigations revealed that he found characteristics different from those used by experts to compare fingerprints.
The tips and branches of the small curved lines that make up the fingerprint are examined when analyzing the fingerprint in the traditional way. On the other hand, military intelligence did not care about them. Instead, he measured the angles and directions of the curves of individual lines in the middle of the fingerprint. If AI is taught using a larger database, its work will become more accurate.
The research results are also interesting from another point of view. Many people believe that AI is not capable of independent discoveries, but only reviews existing knowledge. By revealing that a simple AI independently observed a connection we never knew about, it completely disproves that. All this in such a way that the research was led by a university student who had no previous knowledge of forensics, and yet was able to solve a problem that had eluded experts for many decades.
