Law enforcers around the world are celebrating the rapidly expanding potential of facial recognition software to help them catch criminals faster and solve long-dormant cases. Such capabilities in the right hands could reap enormous public safety dividends. But in the wrong hands, an entirely new dimension in crime, extortion and mayhem could soon be unleashed.
Before it's too late, Americans need to think long and hard about the wisdom of venturing down this uncharted road. Few would argue against tools that help police capture dangerous criminals. It's the law-abiding among us who need to worry about what comes next when this software expands to general public use.
One of the most frightening technological advances is Clearview AI, a powerful facial recognition service currently available to U.S. and Canadian law enforcers. The company's software takes uploaded photos then scrapes the internet, including Facebook, for exact-match images. Its database now contains 3 billion photos and videos. But those aren't just photos of criminals. They're photos of children, grandmothers, families having fun at the beach. Anything and everything is fair game.
