Five days later Russia has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a year ago this week US-based facial recognition company Clearview AI provided the Ukrainian government with free access to its technology. , suggesting that it could be used to reunite families, identify Russian agents, and combat disinformation. Soon after, the Ukrainian government revealed it was using this technology to scan the faces of dead Russian soldiers to identify their bodies and notify their families. By December 2022, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and minister of digital transformation, is tweets a photo of him with Clearview AI CEO Hoan Ton That, thanking the company for the support.
Calculating the dead and letting the family know their loved one’s fate is one compulsory human rights enshrined in treaties, protocols and international law such as Geneva Convention and the International Committee of the Red Cross’ (ICRC) Guiding principles for dignified management of the dead. It is also associated with much deeper obligations. Caring for the dead is one of the oldest human practices, one that makes us human, as well as language and self-reflection. Historian Thomas Laqueur, in his epic meditation, The work of the dead, writes that “since ancient times when people discuss this subject, care for the dead has been seen as the foundation—of religion, of polity, of clan, of tribe, of possibility of mourning, of understanding of finiteness. of life, of civilization itself.” But identifying the dead with facial recognition technology uses the moral weight of this type of care to enable a technology that raises serious human rights concerns.
In Ukraine, the bloodiest war In Europe since the Second World War, facial recognition seems to be just another tool thrown into the grim task of identifying the fallen, along with digitization of mortuary records, mobile DNA labAnd excavating mass graves.
But does it work? Ton-That said that his company’s technology “works effectively regardless of possible facial trauma to the deceased.” There is little research to support this claim, but the authors of a little research found “promising” results even for faces that were in a state of decay. However, forensic anthropologist Luis Fondebrider, a former director of ICRC forensic services who has worked in conflict zones around the world, casts doubt on these claims. “This technology lacks scientific credibility,” he said. “It’s completely not widely accepted by the forensic community.” (DNA identification remains the gold standard.) The forensics field “understands technology and the importance of new developments” but the rush to use facial recognition is “a mix of politics and business.” with very little science,” in Fondebrider’s view. “There is no magic solution for identification,” he said.
Using an unproven technology to identify fallen soldiers could lead to mistakes and hurt families. But even if forensics’ use of facial recognition technology is justified by scientific evidence, it shouldn’t be used to name the dead. It is too dangerous for the living.
Organizations include Amnesty International, Electronic Border OrganizationThe Surveillance Technology Monitoring Project and the Immigrant Protection Project have declared facial recognition technology a form of threatening mass surveillance. Privacyamplification racist policethreaten right to objectand can lead to wrongfully arrested. Damini Satija, head of Amnesty International’s Algorithm Accountability Lab and deputy director of amnesty technology, says that facial recognition technology undermines human rights by “reproducing structural discrimination on a large scale, while automating and inculcating existing social inequalities.” “. In Russia, on the face recognition technology being used to quell dissent. It does not meet the law And moral standards when used in law enforcement in the United Kingdom and the United States, and is weaponization against marginalized in society community around the world.
Clearview The AI, which primarily sells its products to the police, has one of the largest known databases of facial photos, with 20 billion photos, with plans to collect 100 billion more—equivalent to 14 photos. for every person on the planet. Companies have promised early investors “most people in the world will be identified.” governing body in Italy, Australia, the UK and France have declared Clearview’s database illegal and asked the company to delete photos of their citizens. In the EU, Get your face backA coalition of more than 40 civil society organizations, has called for a complete ban on facial recognition technology.
AI Ethical Researcher Stephanie hare says that Ukraine is “using a tool and advertising for a company and its CEO who are not only behaving unethically but illegally.” She surmised that it was a case of “the end justifying the means,” but asked, “Why is it so important for Ukraine to be able to identify dead Russian soldiers using Clearview AI? How is this necessary to defend Ukraine or win the war?
