Are Faceprints the New Fingerprints? Clearview AI Facial Recognition Finds its Way into Russo-Ukrainian War
By Annalisa Gobin
Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology caused a privacy uproar when it began scraping the internet and personal social media pages for images to store in its facial recognition database.[1] Clearview AI’s software then places nifty facial algorithms on the billions of images it collects so that both the software and database can be sold to law enforcement agencies.[2] In February of 2022, Clearview AI informed investors that it was on track to acquire a total of 100 billion faces within its database (equivalent to 14 photos per each of the 7 billion people on Earth).[3]
Many countries have met Clearview AI with hostility. Citizens in the United States have swarmed the New York-based company with numerous privacy-related lawsuits.[4] Additionally, both the United Kingdom and Australia have broadly outlawed the use of facial recognition technology.[5] Experts have warned that the software, which is sometimes paired with augmented-reality glasses, allows users to reveal personal information on every person they see, including where they live and who they know, promoting more sinister activities such as stalking.[6] Notably, massive tech giants like Google have declined to release facial recognition software, fearing its potential for misuse.[7] In 2020, Clearview AI announced that it would be pulling out of the Canadian market following an investigation into the use of the product by law enforcement.[8]
However, Clearview AI may have found acceptance in the world as a war tool. Following the 2022 invasion by Russia, Ukraine was given free access to Clearview AI’s software by the start-up’s executives as a form of international aid.[9] The country could employ the use of facial recognition for a variety of war-related activities including vetting faces at checkpoints for wanted individuals, helping to identify the deceased, and reuniting refugees with family members they were separated from.[10]
While Clearview AI could be helpful wartime technology to Ukraine, critics warn against the use of facial recognition at checkpoints, finding the technology imperfect and posing the risk of misidentification and unfair arrests.[11] Clearview maintains that it does not support using the technology as a sole identification tool and it recommends that individuals receive training in how to use the software appropriately.[12] However, critics remain concerned with the consequences that may occur if the technology were to fall into the wrong hands.[13] As Ukraine prepares to utilize the new technology, critics warn that once software with the potential for such dangerous misuse enters the warzone, there is no going back.[14]
[1] Paresh Dave & Jeffrey Dastin, Exclusive: Ukraine Has Started Using Clearview AI’s Facial Recognition During War, Reuters (Mar. 14, 2022, 5:12 PM), https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-ukraine-has-started-using-clearview-ais-facial-recognition-during-war-2022-03-13/.
[2] Id.
[3] Drew Harwell, Facial Recognition Firm Clearview AI Tells Investors It’s Seeking Massive Expansion Beyond Law Enforcement, Washington Post (Feb. 16, 2022, 12:47 PM), https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/02/16/clearview-expansion-facial-recognition/.
[4] Kashmir Hill, The Secretive Company that Might End Privacy as We Know it, N.Y. Times (Jan. 18, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/18/technology/clearview-privacy-facial-recognition.html.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Paresh Dave & Jeffrey Dastin, Exclusive: Ukraine Has Started Using Clearview AI’s Facial Recognition During War, Reuters (Mar. 14, 2022, 5:12 PM), https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-ukraine-has-started-using-clearview-ais-facial-recognition-during-war-2022-03-13/.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Id.
[14] Id.
Image source: https://www.aaeon.com/en/ai/facial-recognition-application-story