Reducing the Impact of AI-Generated Misinformation on Memory and Perception of a Police Incident

Professor Kim Wade, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Western Australia and John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has published a study exploring how AI report-writing tools that convert audio into police reports might distort memory and perceptions of criminal incidents and the people involved.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems can quickly create human-like content, offering solutions to many real-world problems. In the legal system, such systems are used to produce police reports from audio sources, including footage from officers’ body-worn cameras. While AI report-writing tools are marketed to improve report-writing efficiency, early evidence suggests that they may not save time and could introduce false information into of officers’ reports.

In this study, we examined how a misleading, AI-generated report in influences memory and perceptions of a police incident and whether safeguards can reduce the impact of misinformation. Participants read a summary of police responding to an alleged domestic-violence incident; 24 hr later, they read an AI-generated report that was either accurate or contained misinformation—suggesting that the suspect behaved more aggressively toward police than they did. We tested the effectiveness of two safeguards: (a) actively identifying and correcting errors in the misleading report and (b) watching the body-worn camera footage before reading the report.

Participants completed cued-recall and recognition memory tests and rated their perceptions of the incident, as well as how strongly they identified with police. As expected, the misleading report significantly reduced memory accuracy and changed how participants perceived the incident, especially among those who identified strongly with the police. Safeguards were largely effective at reducing the impact of misinformation on memory accuracy and perceptions.

These findings suggest that misleading content can influence how people remember events even when they are warned that it is AI-generated and that available safeguards are somewhat effective at reducing those effects. The current research highlights the risks of using generative AI systems in legal contexts and the importance of using appropriate safeguards to prevent misinformation from in influencing memory and perceptions.