This grant aims to gather information on the current and emerging landscape of AI systems, specifically focusing on 1) describing the current use of AI-enabled tools by forensic service providers or…

This $231,000 Cooperative Agreement, awarded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the Measurement and Engineering Research and Standards (CFDA 11.609) program, aims to gather information on the current and emerging landscape of AI systems for forensic science applications. The prime recipient, Apco Worldwide LLC, will conduct a comprehensive research effort involving literature reviews, news and social media analysis, community surveys, and focus groups. The key deliverables include: 1) a catalog of forensically relevant AI-enabled tools, 2) a report summarizing AI-enabled tools currently used by forensic service providers, those being marketed as AI-enabled, and those that could address challenges or have use cases in forensics, and 3) an executive summary to be shared with the forensic science community at an upcoming AI in Forensics conference. This research project is intended to benefit the forensic science community by aiding in the procurement and evaluation of AI systems.

Activities

Apco worldwide LLC will be funded to research at or near-market AI-enabled tools currently being fielded by forensic service providers or used in another field with a similar use case to forensic science. This will be accomplished by conducting a comprehensive literature review, news and social media analysis, community surveys, and focus groups.

Expected outcomes

Apco will 1) create a catalog of forensically relevant AI-enabled tools, 2) draft a report that contains a comprehensive summary of AI-enabled tools currently being used by forensics service providers, those being marketed as AI-enabled, as well as those that could address challenges or have uses cases in forensics, and 3) draft an executive summary version to be shared more widely with the forensic science community during the upcoming AI in forensics conference intended beneficiaries: gaining a deeper understanding of the current AI landscape and creating resources that can be referenced in the future will benefit the forensic science community, specifically by aiding AI systems procurement and evaluation.

Subrecipient activities

The recipient does not intend to subaward funds.