Finnish inmates help train AI in innovative rehabilitation effort

People incarcerated in Finnish prisons have the opportunity to work on an artificial intelligence project. Other European countries are also interested in digital rehabilitation programs.

For the past two years, prisoners in Finland have been participating in artificial intelligence (AI) annotation tasks, such as labelling and classifying data, as part of the rehabilitation program. In collaboration with Metroc, a market data startup, the initiative aims to reduce recidivism by equipping prisoners with skills useful in the contemporary world.

Instead of traditional "prison tasks" like sewing, cleaning, or laundry, inmates in three closed prisons in Finland (two male and one female) were offered the opportunity to try digital work. AI systems require human input in their development, especially for languages like Finnish, spoken by only five million people worldwide.

Jussi Virnala, founder of Metroc, explained to Euronews: "Since our software tries to interpret textual materials and details about construction products, we need to teach the language models [AI] to understand Finnish and to comprehend the context of construction as well as construction-related questions and topics." Participants in the program receive special laptops and answer simple questions like "is the text about a construction permit issuance?".

Dr. Tuukka Lehtiniemi, a sociologist at the University of Helsinki, positively reviewed the project. He stated, "It's good to give inmates something to do so that they have a structured day. This helps them adapt to life after release. There is a slightly higher likelihood that you won't commit more crimes when you return to society. Data work is generally seen as very helpful in this regard."

Prisoners are compensated for their work, though earning less than what individuals in comparable positions on the outside would make. One of the participants in the AI annotation program in a Finnish prison, under the pseudonym Robin, wrote to Euronews that they chose the work "to spend time on meaningful activities. AI was a new topic for me and it intrigued me. I also wanted to make some money." Finnish authorities emphasized the uniqueness of the "Smart Prison" project. Other Nordic and European countries have expressed interest in consulting on the digital project.

Source: Euronews.com