AI tools are helping to identify child predators

Summary:

Leveraging AI technology, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has significantly reduced the time and resources needed to identify and prosecute child predators on a large scale.

Client: 

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a non-profit organization founded by U.S. Congress in 1984. It collaborates with law enforcement agencies to prevent child abductions, recover missing children, and combat child exploitation.

Problem Statement: 

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) handles millions of reports annually involving rape, child abuse, and trafficking. Approximately 22,000 of these reports pertain to missing children. To efficiently process photographs of missing children and support investigations, NCMEC needed technological solutions. When a child is found, identifying and prosecuting the abuser or abductor requires examining extensive evidence. In 2023, NCMEC sent 32 million reports to its cyber tip line, each of which could theoretically be a case for a team of lawyers to analyze. This process is time-consuming and labor-intensive, prompting NCMEC to seek methods to expedite document review and enhance decision-making capabilities. 

Results: 

• NCMEC saved more than 4,000 hours in review and investigation time and was able to handle more than 21,000 cases of missing children in 2023.
• NCMEC’s ​​Office of Legal Counsel has saved hundreds of legal hours in proofreading/editing/producing documents.

AI Solution Overview:

NCMEC employs an AI tool called Logikcull, developed by Reveal, which utilizes ML to sort through large volumes of data and identify relevant information for criminal investigations. Logikcull streamlines the document review and coding process with an intuitive interface designed to minimize onboarding time for reviewers. It emphasizes efficiency and user-friendliness, featuring a robust document viewer, automated tagging for organization, and advanced text and audio redaction capabilities. This setup allows reviewers to concentrate on their tasks with fewer interruptions and manual processes. This technology is crucial for NCMEC, which operates with a limited team of eight legal professionals and a four-person imaging and communications team, significantly reducing the time needed to build cases.

References: 

1. This is how AI can help find missing children. https://www.fastcompany.com/90954056/national-center-for-missing-and-exploited-children-using-ai
2. How AI became a key technology in finding missing and exploited children. https://siliconangle.com/2017/03/13/ai-became-key-technology-finding-missing-exploited-children-sxsw/
3. AI is being used to catch more child predators. https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/ai-being-used-catch-more-child-predators

Industry: Legal Services

Vendor: Reveal

Client: The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)

Publication Date: 2023