Take a few photos, upload them to the app and after a few seconds get an initial assessment: Art investigators from the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) want to use a new app to track down stolen cultural goods. The experts from the police and customs repeatedly come across unusual items among travelers at the borders of the Free State, as the LKA announced in Munich on Wednesday. In the short period of time, it is often difficult for them to recognize whether the pottery shards or vases are forgeries or antique objects, and whether these have been imported legally.
Together with nine other police and customs services in Germany, the Bavarian investigators will therefore be testing an app based on artificial intelligence by the end of the year. “The assessment of archaeological objects is a great challenge even for experts,” explained Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters, who funded the “Artificial Intelligence for the Protection of Cultural Property (KIKu)” project with around 500,000 euros. “With the support of artificial intelligence technology, the police and customs will be able to differentiate between illegally and legally traded objects faster and more reliably in the future,” said Grütters. In this way, the app will facilitate the fight against the illegal trade in cultural goods and thus the enforcement of the Cultural Property Protection Act.
Specifically, the officers will photograph a questionable object from several perspectives. These images are then compared with the photos of other cultural assets in a database with the help of artificial intelligence. After a brief moment, the app provides an initial assessment of the region and epoch from which the property could come. “This is again important in order to be able to assess whether the object should be secured and its origin should be checked further,” explained the LKA. The app also gives warnings if the cultural property is reported as stolen.