Ukraine is reportedly using Clearview AI technologies to track “people of interest” during the Russian invasion.
On March 13, Reuters reported that the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has adopted the firm’s facial recognition engine.
Clearview CEO Hoan Ton-That offered the US company’s assistance to Kyiv, and according to the news outlet, the AI tech is being used to “potentially vet people of interest at checkpoints, among other uses,” for free.
The startup has not offered the same to Russia, of which President Putin calls the war a “special military operation.”
Clearview offers facial recognition technologies to law enforcement for criminal investigations. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) awarded the company a patent in January for using publicly-available data — including mugshots, social media profiles, and news sites — to match “similar photos using its proprietary facial recognition algorithm.”
Over two billion photos have been grabbed from VKontakte, a Russian social network, but over 10 billion are reportedly available for use.
As well as flagging Russian individuals of interest to authorities, it is possible that the Clearview AI search engine could be used to identify misinformation and propaganda online, to identify refugees and family connections, or potentially as a means to try and identify fatalities.
However, no AI algorithm is perfect and either uncontrolled use or abuse could also result in misidentification or false arrests.
See also: Ethics of AI: Benefits and risks of artificial intelligence
Reuters reports that other Ukrainian government departments will deploy Clearview technologies in the near future. Training is being provided in the use of the technology.
According to Ukraine’s economic ministry, the invasion has caused at least $120 billion in damages to the country’s infrastructure.
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