IBM told members of Congress that it’s making a retreat from the general purpose face recognition market, which means it will no longer develop and sell any facial analysis software tools. In a letter sent to Congress members, the company…
IBM told members of Congress that it’s making a retreat from the general purpose face recognition market, which means it will no longer develop and sell any facial analysis software tools. In a letter sent to Congress members, the company explained that it has come to this decision in the wake of recent scandals around police misconduct and racial injustice. The company argues that while face recognition tech can help authorities protect communities, the policies that govern its use are too relaxed and need to be improved as soon as possible.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told lawmakers that “now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies.” He also noted that IBM won’t condone “uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms.
