As war rages on Ukrainian lands, the state led by Volodymyr Zelensky has received help from Clearview AI
the American facial recognition company, for “ fight misinformation, identify Russian agents and dead “.
Voices are raised against this aid which could be used for other objectives than those publicly communicated by the management of the start-up.
New free resources available
The English news agency Reuters revealed yesterday that the controversial American company Clearview AI had offered its facial recognition services free of charge to Ukraine to help the state deal with the Russian invasion. According to the company’s CEO, Hoan Ton-That, contacted by Reuters, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense began training in the use of the software this weekend. The stated objectives are clear: to facilitate the identification of the dead, to identify Russian agents and to combat false information.
With its gigantic database comprising more than 10 billion photos from sources as numerous as they are varied, Clearview AI allows Ukraine to identify, in particular thanks to the two billion photos from the social network VKontakte, the Russian Facebook, the Russian agents operating in the territory.
According to Ton-That, the firm’s facial recognition technology will also make it easier to identify the dead, even if their face has been damaged. Clearview AI focuses its communication on the positive that the use of such resources can bring, such as bringing together refugees or combating false information. But voices are being raised about a broader and dangerous use that could emerge.
A dangerous lack of control
The identification of the Russian agents raises questions from experts and observers, given the setbacks of Clearview AI in the field of police surveillance in the United States. Risk 0 does not exist and the reliability of the tool still needs to be improved, which could cause false positives, potentially leading to unfair fights or arrests.
” We’re going to see technology with good intentions backfire and hurt the very people it’s meant to protect. Once you introduce these systems and their associated databases into a warzone, you have no control over how they will be used. Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the US organization Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), told Reuters. He claims that using it to identify the dead is the least dangerous way to operate this kind of technology, and therefore potentially the only valid one.
Remember that Clearview AI is the subject of several international and local investigations and that its use has been banned in several countries for ethical and privacy reasons. The company still states that their tool should not be the sole source of identification and that it should not be used in violation of the Geneva Convention. There is no doubt that the start-up will take the necessary actions if it notices that its tool is being misused.
Source: Reuters
5