UK government sets AI-based 'Minority Report' challenge to halve knife crime
15/08/2025 | UK Government
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has launched a new challenge for experts to create an interactive, real-time crime map for England and Wales. The initiative, part of the government's £500 million R&D Missions Accelerator Programme, aims to help police detect, track, and predict knife crime and anti-social behaviour before it escalates.
The map will use advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to integrate data from police, councils, and social services, including criminal records, incident locations, and known offenders' behavioural patterns. This will enable law enforcement to identify crime concentrations and direct resources effectively to prevent further victims.
A target date has been set for the project to be operational by 2030. As part of an initial £4 million investment, teams will deliver early prototypes by April 2026, supporting the government's mission to halve knife crime and violence against women and girls within a decade.
In a statement responding to the news, a spokesperson for Big Brother Watch said: "The Government’s plans for Minority Report-style policing are deeply chilling and dystopian. Treating people as data points to be tracked, monitored and profiled turns them into suspects by default, and relying on historic data risks amplifying existing biases within the criminal justice system.
"It is likely that vast amounts of sensitive personal data will be hoovered up to build these intrusive predictive policing tools. Instead of 'fixing the foundations' of policing, plans to monitor the public with Orwellian AI tools could erode our most basic rights and could lead to profound injustices."
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