Facial recognition is still in the early stages of development, and the software has had well-documented challenges. One of the biggest privacy issues is that law enforcement agencies have virtually unfettered access to image databases that could be used for facial recognition. This article puts it all into perspective

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Startups Embroiled in Debate
Over Ethics of Facial
Recognition
By Jan 22, 2019 10:02 AM PST
The controversy that swept up leading tech companies last year over
whether facial recognition software is accurate enough to be sold to law
enforcement agencies shows no signs of abating. Last week, a group of
Amazon shareholders demanded that it stop selling the technology to
police, and pushed for a vote on the matter at the company’s shareholder
meeting in May.
Now, a growing number of startups that sell facial recognition technology
are also getting embroiled in the ethical implications of the technology,
which civil liberties groups and activists warn is inaccurate and can worsen
discrimination in policing. In all-hands meetings over the past few months,
employees at Clarifai, an artificial intelligence startup whose software can
recognize the content of images and video, complained to CEO Matthew
Zeiler about the startup’s plan to launch an as-yet-unannounced facial
recognition product.
The Takeaway
As the tech industry debate over facial recognition heats up, startups are
facing tough questions from employees.
At those meetings, Clarifai employees argued against a near-term
commercial launch, saying the software wasn’t accurate enough and could
be misused, according to a former employee with direct knowledge of the
exchanges. Mr. Zeiler pushed back, telling employees he wants to launch
the facial recognition product as soon as possible. His stance is that
Clarifai, which is supplying AI software to the Pentagon and other

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government agencies, needs to have a facial recognition product because
customers and investors are asking for it. “Matt’s take was that there is no
choice,” said the former employee.
Mr. Zeiler, in an emailed statement, did not directly address questions
about the facial recognition product but said the startup is "committed to
conducting extensive beta testing before bringing any product to market."
The tension inside Clarifai—and throughout the artificial intelligence
industry—over the accuracy of facial recognition centers on how good the
still-new technology is at recognizing people of different ethnicities, ages
and genders. The debate is particularly sharp when it comes to selling the
software to law enforcement because of what’s at stake.
“I would not feel comfortable selling to law enforcement, where the direct
outcome of the information we provide is to raise a gun or not,” said Daniel
Putterman, co-CEO of Kogniz, a three-year-old startup that sells facial
recognition technology that can identify people.
Mr. Putterman said most of Kogniz’s customers—stores and other retailers
—use its products for jobs that don’t identify people. But the comment
illustrates tech workers’ increasing willingness to speak out as they come
face-to-face with real-world commercial, civil and military applications of
the technologies they create.
“Employees, even at small companies, are thinking critically about the
products they are building,” said Jacob Snow, technology and civil liberties
attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union. “This is really about
employees serving as their company’s moral conscience, and demanding
that their employer take responsibility for the implications of their
technology.”
Leaders at Google know firsthand what can happen when that moral
conscience takes hold with employees. The company faced protests from

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employees last March after news leaked of its involvement in Project
Maven, a Pentagon initiative that used Google’s AI technology to analyze
drone footage. After the protests, Google said it would not renew the
Pentagon contract.
Well-Documented Challenges
Facial recognition technology, part of a branch of artificial intelligence
known as computer vision, is already used widely. It maps the unique
features of a person’s face in photos and video, and then compares them to
faces of known people whose images are stored in databases. More than a
dozen U.S. airports use facial recognition to screen visitors and speed up
boarding. Banks use facial recognition to authenticate customers using
ATMs, and retail stores use it to identify shoplifters and track checkout
wait times.
But facial recognition is still in the early stages of development, and the
software has had well-documented challenges—such as being unable to
accurately identify people with darker skin. The ACLU has warned that law
enforcement agencies, in the absence of federal regulations, could use
facial recognition for racial profiling.
One of the biggest privacy issues is that law enforcement agencies have
virtually unfettered access to image databases that could be used for facial
recognition. In 2016, researchers from Georgetown University reported
that the photos of 117 million people were stored in facial recognition
databases, and that 26 states allow law enforcement agencies to use these
databases to identify people.
The list of companies selling facial recognition products is relatively small,
but growing fast. Investment from venture capital firms remains strong as
the technology’s potential becomes more evident. In 2018, venture
investors put $85.2 million into the sector, up from $77.1 million in 2017
but less than the $121.8 million invested in 2016, according to data from

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PitchBook.
Amazon’s cloud unit, Amazon Web Services, has been the most aggressive
and has pitched its facial recognition product, called Rekognition, to
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and police departments
around the country, The Daily Beast reported in October. The FBI is also
reportedly testing Rekognition.
Last August, former Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel
Cleaver asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether
Rekognition and similar AI products from other companies are in violation
of federal laws having to do with equal rights and use of public spaces. In
his letter to the DOJ, Mr. Cleaver said the products could “exacerbate and
entrench existing policing disparities on racial lines.”
The debate over facial recognition is particularly sharp when it comes
to selling the software to law enforcement because of what’s at stake.
Microsoft sells cloud-based facial recognition software, while Google said
last month it will not launch such a product until technical and policy
issues around the technology are addressed. Microsoft has led calls for
government regulation to prevent misuse of the technology, and employees
from Microsoft and Google have teamed up to petition for regulation.
Earlier this month, the ACLU and around 90 other civil rights
organizations including the Electronic Frontier Foundation sent a letter to
Amazon, Microsoft and Google asking them to stop selling facial
recognition to government agencies.
In an interview with journalists in mid-January, Brad Smith, Microsoft’s
president and chief legal officer, reiterated Microsoft’s calls for regulation.
While he has praised some applications of the technology, Mr. Smith
echoed concerns expressed by civil liberties groups, saying Microsoft
would not provide the technology to authoritarian regimes.

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“If we’re talking about offering facial recognition services to a government
to deploy across a capital in a country where there is broad mass
surveillance, then all of these are scenarios where human rights are at
risk,” Mr. Smith said. “In my view, we need to say no and we do.”
On Friday, a data privacy bill was introduced in Amazon and Microsoft’s
home state of Washington. It would impose restrictions on facial
recognition technology, including the requirement that private companies
give notice if they use it and a mandate for human review of results before
legal action against a person. Law enforcement’s use of the software is also
restricted by the bill, which says the state’s privacy office will report back
on the technology’s use in 2023.
Employee Questions
As large tech companies stake out their positions on facial recognition
ethics, AI startups have been developing their own approaches.
An example is TrueFace.ai, a four-year-old facial recognition startup that
identifies individuals by analyzing video surveillance footage. The company
talks with prospective customers for a minimum of three months to learn
how they plan to use its software, said CEO Shaun Moore. It shares the
names of existing and potential customers with employees in an internal
online forum, along with notes from sales calls, to promote discussion
about any issues that come up.
“It is important that everyone is aware of what we are doing in the market,”
said Mr. Moore. So far, TrueFace decided not to sell its software to a client
once, he said. The company’s customers include retail stores, hotels,
healthcare firms and financial services companies.
Kairos, a facial recognition startup based in Miami, said in July it would
not sell its technology to law enforcement agencies.

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At Clarifai, Mr. Zeiler said in his statement, "We have processes in place so
that employees are comfortable voicing their opinions around our core
values. We are proud to discuss different opportunities openly with the
team and will continue to do so as a company."
S. “Soma” Somasegar, managing director at Madrona Venture Group, says
it’s important for startups to think about who they’re selling to and to
ensure employees understand how the technology is sold and used. “At a
minimum, we tell our companies to make sure you communicate with
employees, whether they are building products, touching data or selling
products to customers,” said Mr. Somasegar, who previously spent 27
years as an executive at Microsoft.
While the full scope of Clarifai’s commercial strategy for facial recognition
couldn’t be learned, Mr. Zeiler acknowledged that the technology has
business potential for retail stores, photo applications, and sports
analytics. "We do believe that recognizing people opens up numerous new
opportunities that further our mission to accelerate the progress of
humanity with continually improving AI," said Mr. Zeiler.
—Ashley Gold and Nick Wingfield contributed to this article.