12.8 Alien Intelligence

AI software, as we have discovered, can automatically evolve, breed solutions, and learn criminal behavior on its own when programmed to do so. Sometimes the behavior of this type of AI program is completely unpredictable, or clear, such as that of a neural network. However, when software is designed to learn, it can do so quickly through brute computing force, such as with the CART algorithm. Sometime we can't follow its logic in detail, but we use these AI components because they are very accurate. This is what the renowned computer scientist and writer James Martin calls "alien intelligence," which is a process executed on a computer that is so complex that a human can neither follow the logic step-by-step nor come to the same result by other means. We couldn't write a conventional program, for example, to spot fraud on millions of accounts in real time; we need neural networks to help us.

Alien intelligence refers to the data mining techniques covered in this book that enable computers to recognize patterns too complex or vast for humans to recognize. It also refers to a method by which programs are bred, rather than programmed; software is trained, rather than coded, because humans cannot write their functions—their logical reasoning is too complex. Brain-like mechanisms, such as neural networks, exhibit emergent properties that humans cannot anticipate. These things happen at electronic speed, over vast networks. Only a computer can execute logic millions of times faster than humans can, so we initiate self-evolving computer processes that may become very complex for criminal and terrorist detection and deterrence. The machine-learning algorithms become our defenders and protectors.

Today we have to tell computers blow-by-blow what to do, so coding or writing programs is a very slow process. However, with data mining techniques we don't give the computer blow-by-blow instructions. Instead we train it by giving it a narrowly focused initiative, such as learning the signature of a crime, or the task of profiling a perpetrator, which machines with very limited functionality but extreme speed are able to accomplish. This is creating systems and software that breed and evolve and are capable of changing themselves automatically. They are the future of criminal detection and security deterrence. When software breeds or evolves, it does so in order to meet goals that humans specify. The twenty-first century will be an era of emerging alien intelligence. As the century progresses, computers will become immensely more powerful than they are today—eventually billions of times more powerful— and there will be billions of machines interconnected by worldwide networks communicating at the speed of light.

When a system learns it improves its knowledge, as a human does, but this is a mechanistic process. There is no cognizance involved; the computer merely becomes better able to exploit choices of action among an almost infinite number of possibilities. A computer can learn about human behaviors and recognize them for behavioral profiling. Systems and agents coupled with electronic sensors can be relentless in monitoring and collecting information. Some people may feel uncomfortable about this, but because of the threat of terrorism, this will be part of the society we are creating. Machines can observe our behavior and update their knowledge continuously.

With alien-intelligence techniques, computers can be trained to detect patterns that humans couldn't possibly recognize. They can be put to work analyzing, trying to make sense of overwhelming quantities of data, and taking action on the basis of knowledge acquired from the process. They can forage through masses of data, learning about criminals, intrusions, theft, terrorism, fraud, computer viruses, bioterrorism, and other threats to society. Already we have software capable of recognizing faces, emotions, and deception, and with the attacks of 9/11 more are bound to follow, exceeding the abilities of man. However, in the end, it is the combination of human and machine intelligence and recognizing their fundamental differences as well as each of their strengths that will triumph. Increasingly, alien intelligence can be used to combat crime and terrorism; in this book, you have seen some of the technologies, tools, techniques, and case studies of precrime.