ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A startup in St. Petersburg is using artificial intelligence to determine how truthful people are being in their statements.

What You Need To Know

  • Deceptio.AI uses artificial intelligence to analyze how truthful statements made by people are

  • The program uses expertise from someone with more than 30 years experience in statement analysis

  • Deceptio.AI launched this summer, and Mark Carson, one of its founders, says is a great tool for law enforcement, security and human resources

The company — Deceptio.AI — can analyze statements made to law enforcement or employers to determine whether someone is using deceptive language.

“You are investigating individuals who may or may not be guilty of a crime,” said Mark Carson, one of the founders of Deceptio.AI. “So, what we like to say is Deceptio is going to help you either identify or eliminate suspects.”

Carson, a lifelong entrepreneur, said at one point he wanted to improve his sales forecast, so he read some books and did some research into the world of statement analysis.

He said it’s basically a technique where you can analyze what a person says to see if they use any specific verbiage or phrases that show they’re not telling the whole truth.

“It was driven by my desire to want to be able to forecast my deals more accurately,” Carson said.

He said he believes it can be an important tool in business as well as law enforcement.

A couple of years ago, he and his two business partners, including one who has decades of experience in statement analysis, decided to join forces and create software that essentially has the brain of a veteran analyst.

“We've come up with an AI now that can detect deception in a person's written or spoken words,” Carson said.

In simple terms, Carson said a client of the business would go on their website, Deceptio.AI, and companies that purchase the software can input statements and the program determines how truthful the statement is and why it may or may not be the whole truth.

“Then we're going to simply click analyze statement and then what the section does is it gives you a probability of truthfulness,” Carson said when demonstrating how Deceptio works. “Now, what we see is anything that falls 85% and under means it's a highly deceptive statement.”

He says it’s an easy tool that uses more than 25 years of analyst experience to show why certain words or phrases lead to dishonesty.

“So, if you're going to interview individuals for very sensitive positions, you need to make sure that the individuals you're putting forth are trustworthy individuals,” Carson said.

He said trust goes a long way, and it’s vital right now because there is so much misinformation in the world.

“It's surprising when you get a little bit of education how quickly you flash back and realize, I hear a lot of people speak that way,” he said.

Which is why he says this tool is useful for law enforcement, sales, human resources and corporate security.

Carson said the program doesn’t replace statement analyst jobs, rather, it gives companies that don’t have those positions the chance to enhance the way they determine if there is any deception happening right under their nose.

According to Carson, one of the other founders of Deceptio.AI is a retired deputy U.S. Marshal with more than 25 years of federal law enforcement experience.

He said they modeled the artificial intelligence off his experiences with statement analysis to make sure the program used his wealth of knowledge to detect whether someone is lying or telling the truth.