Billions Of Records Collected From Millions Of Sites
Clearview AI is unknown to the public until NYTimes reported. This AI firm’s head is identified to be Hoan Ton-That, who previously designed a few not-so-known apps. His firm is now leveraged by over 600 law enforcement agencies across the US to identify criminals involved in shoplifting, identify theft, murder, credit card fraud and child sexual exploitation. The app, which uses its AI to recognize anyone by face and matches it with its database is going viral among authorities. It is capable of scraping details of anyone almost instantly. As reported, it searches through it 3-billion records of the database that collected from millions of sites like Facebook, YouTube and Venmo. It’s clearly violating the privacy terms, yet it’s supported by officials. Analysts expect this advanced facial recognition technology can turn more intimidating in the near future if not harnessed properly. The Times reporter, Kashmir Hill said she was tracking the company for a while and at the same time, the company is tracking her in return too! Getting more weird, when Hill requested few policemen to test her on the app, it showed results instantly and the policemen have received calls from Clearview AI immediately to check if they’re talking to media!
Helpful, But Still Creepy
This advanced facial recognition service made the job of the police so easy. In one instance, Indiana State Police had solved a case in just 20 minutes using Clearview AI. But, experts believe that something dramatic can happen, as the weaponization of this tech is possible by any rouge law enforcement agencies trying to scrape details of someone he hates or to stalk! May that be controlled at least by the ethics taught for his job, the worst part is, Clearview AI has licensed this facial recognition tech to few companies too! Along with Ton-That, Clearview AI is co-founded by Richard Schwartz and funded by the famous writer, Peter Thiel. Though no one independently verified this application yet, it’s perfectly satisfying the needs of authorities as of now. May this soon be scrutinized by activists and conclude a fair end of usage by authorities.
