Police Poured 8 Billion Won Into AI, but Field Response Is Lukewarm

Police invested 8.1 billion won over two years in introducing artificial intelligence (AI) into the Criminal Justice Information System known as KICS, but the AI has been giving irrelevant or incorrect answers, leaving it largely unused in the field. When an investigator asked about the legal provisions punishing aggravated assault, the AI cited unrelated military criminal law and military service law instead of the relevant Criminal Code article. Asked about the legal principles behind litigation fraud, it even cited the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Bae Si-woong, advisory attorney at KBS, pointed out: "Aggravated assault is defined under Article 261 of the Criminal Code, punishable by up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won, but the AI could not even determine that the provision existed in the Criminal Code in the first place." He added, "The logic of referencing international criminal jurisdiction is simply incomprehensible."

Frontline investigators say KICS AI sees little actual use. Officers commented, "I tried it once to summarize a report and never used it again," "It isn't linked to web searches, so I use other AI tools instead," and "Searching directly is far faster and more accurate."

Rep. Lim Ho-seon of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, said, "Investigators must be able to trust and rely on the system. If even one thing goes wrong, the human rights violations or disadvantages suffered by the citizens involved are beyond words."

The National Police Agency said it is pushing forward with an upgrade project, including reinforcing training data, to improve KICS AI's accuracy.