AI Is Fighting Modern Slavery, for Better or Worse
When Santander U.K.’s artificial intelligence technology flagged unusual activity on a customer’s account last year, the bank’s staff had no idea it would lead to a human trafficking network being uncovered.
On their own, the transactions didn’t look like much. A 34-year-old man was making regular payments to budget airlines, mobile phone providers, and Vivastreet and Gumtree, websites that can be used to advertise genuine adult services but also to sell cars, computers, and more.
But the bank monitors and analyzes millions of transactions using technology run by ThetaRay, an AI-powered financial crime detection company, to spot patterns—and when something falls outside those patterns.
Without AI, this activity wouldn’t have been picked up, said Stephen Jennings, the head of transaction monitoring at Santander, whose team disclosed the case to the U.K. National Crime Agency.
“By understanding what is normal, AI will then very quickly tell you what’s not normal,” ThetaRay CEO Peter Reynolds said. “And that thing that doesn’t look normal is potentially crime.”