AI gone wrong, again: 50-year-old woman arrested for crimes in a state she had never been to

Angela Lipps, a 50-year-old grandmother from Tennessee, spent over five months in jail because an AI facial recognition tool told the police that she had committed crimes in North Dakota. When they realised their mistake, she was released over 1,600 kilometres away from her home with no money and no means to return. Lipps relied on charities to fly back to Tennessee, reports suggest. Police in Fargo, North Dakota, have admitted that an error happened, but when asked whether the department would issue an apology, officials did not give an affirmative answer. Lipps was first arrested in Tennessee on July 14, according to the Fargo Police Department and a verified GoFundMe page. She lost her home, her car, and even her dog because of the ordeal.

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Months ago, several cases of bank fraud had occurred in and around Fargo, according to police. They used an AI tool to scan surveillance footage, relying on their "partner agency’s facial recognition technology” and “additional investigative steps independent of AI to assist in identification”, CNN reported. The company was Clearview AI, a startup that had a database of billions of photos built by using images from all over the internet. The software incorrectly matched the suspect's face to Angela Lipps, even though she lived in another state and had never even been to North Dakota. An arrest warrant was issued, and Lipps was arrested in Tennessee while babysitting her grandchildren. She spent over three months in a Tennessee jail and was later extradited to North Dakota, according to Fargo police and her lawyers.

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Lipps recalled the extradition on her GoFundMe page, "It was the first time I had ever been on an aeroplane. I was terrified and exhausted and humiliated." It wasn't until December that her lawyer provided bank records and receipts showing she was in Tennessee buying groceries and gas at the exact time the crimes were happening in North Dakota. On December 23, the Fargo detective, the state’s attorney and the judge “mutually agreed to dismiss the charges without prejudice to allow for further investigation,” the Fargo police said. She was finally released on Christmas Eve. However, despite the extreme cold, the police released her with no coat, no money, and no way to get home. She eventually made it back to Tennessee with the help of local charities.

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Fargo police department says it would never use West Fargo's AI tools

The Fargo Police said at a news conference that they relied on AI-powered facial recognition tools that the neighbouring West Fargo has. Lipps was identified as a "potential suspect" based on the image on a fake ID used in a West Fargo fraud case. The department has said it would no longer be using its AI system. When asked whether the department would apologise to Lipps, Fargo Police Department Chief Dave Zibolski said, "At this juncture, we still don’t know who’s involved and who’s not involved" in the fraud cases.