Researchers in China say they have achieved a world first by developing a machine that can charge people with crimes using artificial intelligence. The AI “prosecutor” can file a charge with more than 97 per cent accuracy based on a verbal description of the case, according to the researchers. The machine was built and tested by the Shanghai Pudong People’s Procuratorate, the country’s largest and busiest district prosecution office. The technology could reduce prosecutors’ daily workload, allowing them to focus on more difficult tasks, according to Professor Shi Yong, director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ big data and knowledge management laboratory, who is the project’s lead scientist.