Ukraine begins using Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology against Russia

By Alma Fabiani

Published Mar 15, 2022 at 01:46 PM

Reading time: 2 minutes

28746

On Sunday 13 March, Clearview AI’s Chief Executive Officer Hoan Ton-That told Reuters that Ukraine’s defence ministry began using his company’s facial recognition technology from Saturday 12 March after the US startup offered to: uncover Russian assailants, combat misinformation and identify dead soldiers and civilians.

Ukraine is receiving free access to Clearview AI’s powerful search engine “for faces, letting authorities potentially vet people of interest at checkpoints, among other uses,” Lee Wolosky, an adviser to the company and former diplomat under US presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, told the publication.

The move was quickly implemented after Russia began invading Ukraine and, according to a copy obtained by Reuters, Ton-That sent a letter to Kyiv offering assistance. The company further revealed that it has not offered the same to Russia.

Ton-That said that his startup had more than 2 billion images from the Russian social media service VKontakte (VK) at its disposal, out of a database of over 10 billion photos in total. In the right hands, such a database could help Ukraine identify the deceased more easily than trying to match fingerprints and works “even if there is facial damage,” the CEO wrote. Although research for the US Department of Energy found decomposition reduced the technology’s effectiveness, a paper from a 2021 conference showed promising results.

Ton-That’s letter also explained that Clearview AI’s technology could be used to reunite refugees separated from their families, identify Russian operatives and help the government debunk false social media posts related to the war.

As of now, the exact purpose for which Ukraine’s defence ministry is using the technology is yet to be clarified. Other parts of Ukraine’s government are expected to deploy Clearview AI in the coming days, Ton-That and Wolosky added.

But the technology also represents some risks. First of all, even facial recognition is not always accurate—some of its critics say it could misidentify people at checkpoints as well as in battle. A mismatch like this could lead to the catastrophic consequence of civilian deaths—much like the unjust arrests that have previously arisen from police use of the technology.

“We’re going to see well-intentioned technology backfiring and harming the very people it’s supposed to help,” Albert Fox Cahn, Executive Director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.) in New York, told Reuters.

Following that same line of thought, Ton-That said that Clearview AI should never be wielded as the sole source of identification and that he would not want the technology to be used in violation of the Geneva Conventions, which created legal standards for humanitarian treatment during war.

This approach to using the technology is clear in how Ukrainians have been introduced to it so far—like other users, those in Ukraine are receiving training and have to input a case number and reason for a search before queries, the CEO told Reuters.

It’s important to keep in mind that Clearview AI, which primarily supplies US law enforcement, is currently facing a number of lawsuits in the country for violating privacy rights by taking images from the internet. But the company asserts that its data-gathering process is similar to how Google search works. Still, several countries including the UK and Australia have deemed its practices illegal.

Cahn described identifying the deceased as probably the least dangerous way to deploy the technology in war, but he said that “once you introduce these systems and the associated databases to a war zone, you have no control over how it will be used and misused.”

Numerous studies over the past half-decade have continuously documented the relative inaccuracy of facial recognition systems in identifying black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC), women and children. In the US, faulty facial recognition technology has already resulted in cases of misidentification. In January 2020, Detroit police arrested Robert Williams after facial recognition technology falsely matched his driver’s licence photo with surveillance footage from a local robbery.

Williams was detained for 30 hours and then released on bail until a court hearing on the case. At the hearing, a Wayne County prosecutor announced that the charges against Williams would be dropped due to insufficient evidence. At the time, civil rights experts said Williams was the first documented example in the US of someone being wrongfully arrested specifically based on a false hit produced by facial recognition technology.

Keep On Reading

By Eliza Frost

How exactly is the UK government’s Online Safety Act keeping young people safe? 

By Charlie Sawyer

What is Mar-a-Lago face? Unpacking the beauty trend prompted by Donald Trump’s second term

By Eliza Frost

American Eagle and Sydney Sweeney face backlash with employee’s LinkedIn post adding fuel to the fire

By Charlie Sawyer

Why Sabrina Carpenter’s sexuality is praised and Lola Young’s is picked apart

By Eliza Frost

Sabrina Carpenter says you need to get out more if you think Man’s Best Friend artwork is controversial 

By Charlie Sawyer

Wednesday star Jenna Ortega reveals surprising dream role in recent interview

By Abby Amoakuh

Tiktoker gets slammed by dermatologists for promoting dangerous caveman skincare regime

By Charlie Sawyer

Michael Cera reveals why he turned down a role in the Harry Potter franchise

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Celebrities call out Blue Origin for sending Katy Perry and Lauren Sánchez to space

By Eliza Frost

Misogyny, sexism, and the manosphere: how this year’s Love Island UK has taken a step backwards

By Charlie Sawyer

Who is Zohran Mamdani, the staunch socialist primed to become New York’s first Muslim mayor?

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Trump launches his 2028 presidential campaign, ignoring constitutional limitations

By Eliza Frost

How to spot a performative male out in the wild 

By Charlie Sawyer

This Oscar-winning actor is the top pick to play Voldemort in HBO Max Harry Potter reboot

By Charlie Sawyer

Sabrina Carpenter accused of centering men on controversial album cover

By Charlie Sawyer

New study confirms Bacterial Vaginosis can be sexually transmitted, backing what women have long suspected

By Eliza Frost

The Summer I Turned Pretty stars Lola Tung and Gavin Casalegno caught in political drama

By Charlie Sawyer

Meghan Trainor is not responsible for eradicating fatphobia. But her fans also have a right to be upset

By Eliza Frost

Zayn Malik’s new song suggests One Direction era wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows

By Charlie Sawyer

McDonald’s hit with new mass boycott. Here’s who’s behind it and why