A so-called "AI prosecutor" in Shanghai, China, was accused of being inaccurate and a threat to freedom of expression. 

China developed an AI-powered prosecutor able to charge people with eight common crimes, including fraud, theft, dangerous driving, obstructing official duties and 'provoking trouble' (ie. political dissent) with over 97 percent accuracy, according to the South China Morning Post.

Built and tested by the Shanghai Pudong People’s Procuratorate, the system was trained on over 17,000 legal cases and can charge a suspect based on 1,000 'traits' gathered from a human-documented description of a case.

Lauded by some for its accuracy, others are concerned about its potential for errors and question how appeals can be made against its black box system. Others believe the programme will be used to stifle freedom of expression, assembly and other forms of dissent.

The AI prosecutor works alongside 'System 206', which was used for the first time in Shanghai in January 2019 and which is said to evaluate evidence, conditions for an arrest, and the degree of danger a suspect poses to the general public.