UK gets first AI-powered virtual police assistant
It has been put into effect in two police forces as part of a trial period.
You might think that AI would struggle to take the jobs of police officers, at least in its current form where it has very limited physical presence and cannot actually arrest criminals on the street. However, this isn't stopping the UK from bringing the technology into the law enforcement sector, as an AI-powered virtual assistant has been launched in two police forces as part of a trial period.
As per Sky News, the bot is known as Bobbi, paying homage to the slang term used to describe police officers in the country as Bobby's. It's not a technology that is meant to begin incarcerating people any time soon (as we see used in the upcoming Chris Pratt film Mercy), as rather it's meant to simply interact like a human and answer frequently asked questions for non-emergency situations.
The places where Bobbi is being trialled includes Thames Valley Police and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, and the aim of the bot is to "complement online forms, phone lines and front counters... not replace them."
It's also mentioned that if someone would rather speak to a human person instead of Bobbi, this option is available and will lead to being automatically directed to a real-life operator.
