7.1 What Is Machine Learning?

As we have seen, there are a variety of AI technologies for combating crime. One of the most promising of them for the investigative data miner is machine-learning algorithms. These software programs can be used to develop profiles of perpetrators through a combination of decision trees and conditional IF/THEN rules. Unlike neural networks, which are at times difficult to decipher, using machine-learning and statistical algorithms like Classifier version 5 (C5.0), chi-square automatic interaction detection (CHAID), or classification and regression trees (CART), conditional constructs of criminal attributes and features can be extracted from large databases. For more information about the machine-learning technology go to http://www.mlnet.org.

The outputs from these and other machine-learning algorithms are highly descriptive in their classification of a desired solution, such as the conditions leading to criminal acts like fraud, or the attributes and features of criminals. For example, using one of these types of machine-learning algorithms, an analyst can generate a set of rules, such as the following one for profiling a potential smuggler at a point-of-entry border crossing:

      IF Vehicle Make is CHEVROLET,      AND Year of Vehicle is 1998,      AND No Insurance Listed for Vehicle,      AND Lien Holder is Owned,      THEN there is      06.34% chance that Alert is Low      18.32% chance that Alert is Medium...