Description: Global Intelligence's Cybercheck AI tool, used by law enforcement to track suspects based on open source data, has allegedly been providing inaccurate or unverifiable evidence in several murder trials. Reportedly the tool lacks transparency and often produces unreliable reports, which has prompted prosecutors to withdraw Cybercheck evidence from multiple cases after its findings were challenged, wasting law enforcement time and resources while undermining prosecutors' cases.
Editor Notes: This incident represents several discrete harm events that may form the basis for individual incident IDs themselves. Quick notes on the individual incidents and their general timelines for later consideration: (1) Philip Mendoza of Akron, Ohio (August 2, 2020: Kimberly Thompson, Brian James, and Thompson’s grandson, Tyree Halsell, were shot in Akron. Mendoza became a suspect, but warrants for phone location data from Sprint and Google did not yield results. August 2022: Akron police received a Cybercheck report that placed Mendoza’s cyber profile at the scene on the wrong date, August 20 instead of August 2. Despite this error, the system still claimed 93.13% accuracy. A corrected report was later generated. Late 2022: Mendoza’s defense attorney challenged the Cybercheck evidence, revealing inconsistencies. Prosecutors eventually withdrew the Cybercheck report from the trial. Early August 2023: Mendoza pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve 15 to 20.5 years in prison, though the faulty evidence may have influenced the case.) ||| (2) Sergio Cerna of Midland County, Texas (2021: Deputies were investigating the murder of a woman whose burned body was found. Cerna became a suspect, but no direct evidence linked him to the crime scene. 2022: Cybercheck produced a report claiming with 97.25% accuracy that Cerna’s cyber profile had interacted with a wireless printer near the crime scene. Cerna’s defense requested a Daubert hearing to challenge the evidence. Partway through the hearing, the prosecutor withdrew the Cybercheck report. March 2023: Cerna was convicted based on other evidence and sentenced to life in prison. His attorney planned to appeal.) ||| (3) Aurora, Colorado Homicide Case (2022: Cybercheck identified a suspect in a homicide case based on a ping from a router located at a residence. Detectives went to the address and found the resident had never had a router by that name. Investigators could not corroborate Cybercheck’s data, and the router evidence was invalidated.) ||| (4) Aurora, Colorado Fatal Shooting of a 13-Year-Old (2022: Cybercheck identified a suspect in the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old. Investigators believed a different suspect was more likely involved. Cybercheck proposed a scenario of gang-related involvement, but this conflicted with other evidence. The case was ongoing, and the validity of the Cybercheck identification remained in question.) ||| (5) Mississippi Bureau of Investigation Missing Juvenile Case (2022: The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation used Cybercheck in a missing juvenile case. The tool provided potential suspects, but the information was later found to be completely false. Later 2022: The juvenile was eventually located using other investigative methods, and the Cybercheck results were dismissed as a waste of time.) ||| (6) Summit County, Ohio (Four Murder Cases) (Late 2022/Early 2023: In four murder cases in Summit County, Cybercheck reports were initially intended to be used as evidence. 2023: Following challenges from defense attorneys and scrutiny over the reliability of the technology, prosecutors withdrew Cybercheck reports from these cases.) ||| (7) Boulder County, Colorado Child Sexual Abuse Material Case (2022/2023: In a CSAM case, Cybercheck evidence was submitted, and Mosher testified as an expert witness. However, defense attorneys uncovered that Mosher had allegedly provided false testimony about his experience. 2023: Prosecutors dropped the charges, and the case file was sealed after Mosher’s credibility came into question.)
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: Global Intelligence and Cybercheck developed and deployed an AI system, which harmed Phillip Mendoza , Sergio Cerna , Unnamed Aurora Colorado residents , Mississippi Bureau of Investigation , Four unnamed Summit County Ohio men , Unnamed Boulder County Colorado resident , Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Yakima County Sheriff’s Office.
Incident Stats
Incident ID
823
Report Count
1
Incident Date
2024-10-15
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
wired.com · 2024
- View the original report at its source
- View the report at the Internet Archive
Just after 9 pm on an August night in 2020, Kimberly Thompson and Brian James pulled the car into a driveway in Akron, Ohio, and stepped out into a barrage of gunfire. They were shot in the legs, rushed to a hospital, and survived. But Thom…
Variants
A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.
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