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If you accessed the internet in last week or so, chances are you came across the name ClearView AI \u2014 a terrifying facial recognition software that has over three billion images in the database; far more than what FBI has. The New York Times wrote a lengthy report on how the software scraped\u00a0images from all over the internet to increase its algorithm\u2019s accuracy.<\/p>\n
However, if you think Clearview AI, or other facial recognition systems are just a passing fad that will fall out of favor soon, you\u2019re mistaken<\/span>. A report by the Chigao Sun Times suggests police are more than happy to use it to catch criminals.<\/p>\n Chicago Police\u00a0Department\u2019s (CPD) spokesperson, Anthony Guglielmi, told the publication that facial recognition software like Clearview AI adds \u201cjet fuel\u201d to the department\u2019s process of catching criminals. He added that the police wants to be able to use every tool to catch criminals:<\/p>\n Our obligation is to find those individuals that hurt other people and bring them to justice.\u00a0And we want to be able to use every tool available to be able to perform that function, but we want to be able to do so responsibly.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The report also notes that the Chicago police department signed a contract worth nearly $50,000 to use Clearview AI\u2019s technology on January 1.\u00a0What\u2019s more shocking is that CPD is using Clearview AI\u2019s system this way even though it is, according to the company\u2019s co-founder,\u00a0Hoan Ton-That, suited for \u201cafter-the-fact research tool for law enforcement, not a surveillance system or a consumer application.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n [Read:\u00a0Facebook will cough up $550 million to settle facial recognition case]<\/em><\/p>\n In its statements, CPD sought to assure people that\u00a0<\/span>there are practices in place to ensure the privacy and protection of the civil rights of citizens. Currently, only 30 officials in the CPD have access to the tool and can only use it for investigation in ongoing criminal cases; it\u2019s not allowed to use the tech for surveillance.<\/p>\n One of the biggest problems remaining is the accuracy of the systems. A study published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) last year highlighted\u00a0false positives often vary by factors of 10 to beyond 100 times when facial recognition is applied to different demographics. Clearview\u2019s own AI claims to be up to 75 percent accurate \u2014 not encouraging at all. This may lead to innocent people being arrested because of the AI\u2019s bias.<\/p>\n A report by the Verge published yesterday noted\u00a0Moscow police has rolled out an app that enabled live face detection and alerts. Meanwhile, India\u2019s police is experimenting with\u00a0the facial recognition\u00a0system in several cities to supposedly catch criminals.\u00a0With no oversight on the usage of\u00a0 this technology, there are chances that it may be used to snoop on citizens who are showing dissent against authorities.<\/p>\n There\u2019s an ongoing debate on banning facial recognition on various fronts. However, that might not solve the problem. As security commentator\u00a0Bruce Schneier noted in his op-ed for the New York Times, it doesn\u2019t help societies to focus only on banning facial recognition systems. Authorities have other means to surveil people, so we should look at a bigger picture. If we want to restrict them from snooping on people, we should look at better oversight on governments are trying to keep an eye on their citizen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n