A polygraph is an electronic device used mainly by the police to determine the probability of whether a suspect is telling the truth
The polygraph machine is designed to illicit subtle physiological responses from being asked specific questions. The theory behind the polygraph is that when one lies, the body reacts by increasing breath, pulse, and heart rate.
While polygraphs are not allowed as evidence of guilt or innocence in court, law enforcement and prosecutors have relied heavily on them to determine whether to prosecute a suspect.
Today, there is still no definitive or scientific proof that quantifies the accuracy of the polygraph. Polygraph associations and proponents of the accuracy of the instrument believe the accuracy is somewhere around ninety percent.
Critics of its accuracy estimate the polygraph to be, at most, seventy percent accurate. However, with the advent of artificial intelligence like Chat-GPT 4 and other language-based AI systems, the acceptability and use of such truth-telling devices might change.
