The STF and Subordinate Services authorities used AI in its crackdown on cheating. (Representational)
Not just guns and bullets, Uttar Pradesh cops have a new weapon in their inventory - artificial intelligence.
The state police's Special Task Force has used Artificial Intelligence in its latest crackdown on a cheating racket in a government job recruitment exam and arrested 200 people taking the test on the behalf of others in exchange for money.
About 2 lakh 50 thousand candidates took the statewide exam for recruitment to nearly 1,500 posts of village development officer Sunday.
According to sources, many job seekers had hired "solvers" to take the exam on their behalf. These gangs have now started using advanced image editing tools to modify admit cards in a way that examiners do not smell a rat. These tools, the sources said, "merge" the faces of the actual examinee and the solver in a way that the photograph on the admit card appears to be of the solver. A check by naked eye can miss the minute deviations in the photo.
In a joint operation, the Special Task Force and the state Subordinate Services authorities used Artificial Intelligence-based advanced face recognition software to identity those hired to take the exam.
The advanced system put in place carried out in real-time an Aadhaar-based cross verification of candidates' identities, the sources said.
The sources from UP police added that they plan to scale up the use of Artificial Intelligence in their investigation into such cases. The aim is catch "solvers" during or right after the exam, they said.
Meanwhile, state cops continue to crackdown on cheaters using technology such as bluetooth during such exams. More than 40 people were caught on Monday and Tuesday from centres hosting recruitment exams for the posts of Village Development Officers and Social Welfare Inspectors.