Following George Floyd's death in the U.S. that sparked numerous protests in many places around the globe, racism has become an increasingly sensitive subject for debate.
Inequality cannot be solved by technology once said Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. But when it comes to AI, the technology is dealing with the sensitive subject, and things should be done to stop it doing what it is not supposed to do.
IBM is one of the big tech companies known for developing machine-learning technology. It said that it wants to stop developing or selling its facial recognition software due to concerns the technology is used to promote racism.
CEO Arvind Krishna said the tech giant opposes any technology used "for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms."
He called for a “national dialogue” on whether and how it is appropriate for facial recognition technology to be used by domestic law enforcement agencies.
The letter also called for new federal rules to crack down on police misconduct, and more training and education for in-demand skills to improve economic opportunities for people of color.
In a letter to the Congress that was shared in a blog post, IBM said that:
For more than several times AI has proven itself useful and capable in automating tasks, lifting the heavy burdens from humans' shoulders. But at many times, AI has proven itself a racist.
The reason is because the AIs were trained using based data sets. With more 'white' that 'black', the technology doesn't see people of color as good as white people. In a bad way, blacks aren't perceived well enough by many AIs.
For years, activists and experts have been pointing out that facial recognition may not be the best solution and prone for abuse.
Their concerns are legitimate, knowing that a study by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2019 confirmed that the majority of facial recognition algorithms performed worse on non-white faces.
The news has been broadly received positively by tech workers, and in particular campaigners who are worried about the use of facial recognition technology.
Critics however, said that IBM has nothing much to lose, considering that the company barely had a foothold in the consumer market, when compared to the likes of Google and Facebook, for example.
Despite that, IBM is still a technology giant.
Taking such a strong moral stance over one of the most controversial topics, can certainly affect its business. And the move is particularly timely given the ongoing protests over police violence and racism in the U.S. and around the world.
By withdrawing from developing facial-recognition technology, IBM becomes the first company to publicly state this opinion.
Krishna also stressed that the national policy also should encourage and advance uses of technology that bring greater transparency and accountability to policing, such as body cameras and modern data analytics techniques.
He also noted that IBM would like to work with the Congress in pursuit of justice and racial equity, focused initially in three key policy areas of police reform, responsible use of technology, and broadening skills and educational opportunities.
IBM was followed by Amazon, that said governments should "put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology". Microsoft also followed, by saying that it won’t supply facial recognition to police until "we have a national law in place, grounded in human rights."
Further reading: The Two Common Security Threats Unique To Artificial Intelligence
