IBM, a prominent artificial intelligence company, has taken a stand against the misuse of facial recognition technology by law enforcement.
In a letter to Congress this week, IBM's CEO, Arvind Krishna, outlined the company's commitment to addressing racial injustice and police abuse. Krishna expressed IBM's willingness to collaborate with Congress on issues related to justice and racial equity, with a particular focus on three key policy areas: police reform, responsible technology usage, and expanding educational opportunities and skills development.
As part of their commitment to the responsible use of technology, Krishna explained how facial recognition tools have been misapplied for purposes such as mass surveillance, racial profiling, and human rights violations. In response to this, IBM has made the decision to discontinue offering "general-purpose IBM facial recognition or analysis software."
The letter also recognized the inherent biases present in these tools and emphasized the need for more comprehensive testing and reporting on their applications and potential abuses. IBM itself has faced scrutiny in the past for the way its tools were used to train systems on issues related to race and gender. Notably, in March 2019, the company faced criticism for scraping millions of Creative Commons-licensed Flickr photos without the permission of the individuals photographed, as part of a diversity initiative aimed at addressing AI bias.
It took widespread nationwide protests following the tragic police killing of George Floyd for IBM to learn from its past experiences and commit to developing responsible artificial intelligence tools and software.