A new tool that literally could change the face of law enforcement has been created by Battelle Memorial Institute and it could prove more helpful than a lie detector.
When police want to solve a crime and need to talk to witnesses, they sometimes find witnesses don't want to talk to them. Now scientists at Battelle Memorial Institute may have a solution.
On a computer screen, the animated face of young woman looked out and said, "Let me show you how I can change my appearance."
She is an avatar...an animated version of a person. Seven years ago, software engineer Dave Charlson and his colleagues created it for a branch of the Defense Intelligence Agency. The client wanted to know if an avatar could be used to learn if someone was telling the truth. They began by crafting an avatar that could be male or female, of any ethnic background.
"We have different hair styles, different skin tones, different eyes, teeth, all the coloring, everything can be changed," Charlson, a Battelle software engineer, explained.
He touched a portion of the screen, and seconds apart the faces changed to reflect the seemingly endless variety of humanity that populates our nation.
The complex computer program lets the avatar ask questions based on answers given by a real person. During their research, the scientists found something surprising.
"If you see somebody who looks like yourself on the screen, you may be more likely to tell the truth or give them more information than you would normally get through questioning," Charlson said.
He said that the questions the avatar asks are more than a simple yes or no.
"When the avatar asks questions to the person, it can understand their responses, it can respond accordingly. It's a very complex system."
The fact that people actually told more to an avatar than they would to a stranger did not surprise to Jason Hayes, fitness expert at Battelle, who tried the test.
"With a real person, for instance, you never know what kind of mood they're in, if they're going to be in a bad mood and just treat you negatively. Whereas this is always going to treat you the same," he said.
Now the scientists hope their avatar will be a new tool to help law enforcement agencies solve crimes. Charlson says they think the avatar could be used in a number of fields.
Battelle Memorial Institute is just starting to market it.