This week’s Economist reports on how the one of London’s city councils has used a new lie detection technology on people who claim they need welfare benefits. The system, which uses a version of “voice risk analysis,” comes from an Israeli firm called Nemesysco.
The system is said to operate by detecting changes in the sonic frequencies of people’s voices that are caused by stress, and comparing these with a baseline created by their responses to unemotive questions, such as requests for their personal details.
The trials in London’s Harrow area suggest that voice risk analysis does not catch many liars (its makers dispute this interpretation), but there is some good news.
Many people believe that lie detectors are effective, so many would-be welfare cheats drop their claims when they learn they’ll have to take a lie detector before getting any benefits.
Harrow has thus saved a lot of money, and many other city councils plan to install lie detectors at their welfare offices.
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