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AI Privacy The Military

Ukraine Has Started Using Clearview AI's Facial Recognition During War (msn.com) 49

Posted by EditorDavid from the facing-the-enemy dept.
Reuters reports: Ukraine's defense ministry on Saturday began using Clearview AI's facial recognition technology, the company's chief executive told Reuters, after the U.S. startup offered to uncover Russian assailants, combat misinformation and identify the dead. Ukraine is receiving free access to Clearview AI's powerful search engine for faces, letting authorities potentially vet people of interest at checkpoints, among other uses, added Lee Wolosky, an adviser to Clearview and former diplomat under U.S. presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

The plans started forming after Russia invaded Ukraine and Clearview Chief Executive Hoan Ton-That sent a letter to Kyiv offering assistance, according to a copy seen by Reuters. Clearview said it had not offered the technology to Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation...."

The Clearview founder said his startup had more than 2 billion images from the Russian social media service VKontakte at its disposal, out of a database of over 10 billion photos total. That database can help Ukraine identify the dead more easily than trying to match fingerprints and works even if there is facial damage, Ton-That wrote.... Ton-That's letter also said Clearview's technology could be used to reunite refugees separated from their families, identify Russian operatives and help the government debunk false social media posts related to the war.

The exact purpose for which Ukraine's defense ministry is using the technology is unclear, Ton-That said. Other parts of Ukraine's government are expected to deploy Clearview in the coming days, he and Wolosky said.
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Ukraine Has Started Using Clearview AI's Facial Recognition During War More

Ukraine Has Started Using Clearview AI's Facial Recognition During War

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  • Now they're also war profiteers.

    • Now they're also war profiteers.

      According to TFS, they are providing their tech to Ukraine for free. So no profit.

      • The first one is always free.

        • Does it matter anyway? It's war, they're fighting for their lives and very existence against a brutal regime that has historically been known to cause terrible war atrocities, and they should worry a little bit about privacy while people are dying?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by jd ( 1658 )

            Politicians almost never stop using a power when it is no longer required.

            Whilst I am completely sympathetic to Ukraine's position and the necessity to provide as much security as possible, there needs to be an irreversible sunset provision on usage (and I'm happy with that being several years after the war is over rather than a specific date), some means for the innocent to challenge their inclusion in a court of law once hostilities are over and an adequate accounting of usage to the ICC should any eviden

        • The first one is always free.

          Said no war profiteer, ever.

        • I'm finding it really hard to give a shit, when it's civilian lives on the line.

          Clearview can go fist themselves, but Ukraine needs all the help they can get to make this war so costly that the Russian people cannot accept it, and choose to end it themselves by ending Putin's government by one way or another.

          I'd prefer a nice cheap 9mm round in the skull, but also be happy with a permanent residence at The Hague.

      • They'll write it off on their taxes despite not actually spending any money

      • When your cities crumble under artillery bombardment (well, some parts of some cities at least), using facial recognition to identify prisoners of war and the dead seems a step in the right direction.
        And as plenty of Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine are in their armed forces, identifying living "Russians" from "non-Russians" (Chechens, ...) shouldn't be hard. Yet, identifying dead people is both incredibly important (at least for Ukrainian propaganda purposes and the relatives) and much more difficult.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jd ( 1658 )

          That is perfectly legitimate (although I dislike any use of propaganda intensely - Ukraine has a perfectly legitimate cause and manipulating the citizenry risks undermining that legitimacy).

          Politicians are wont to retain powers after they become superfluous, though, with the result that those powers start getting used for corruption, and Ukraine isn't as free of corruption as it could or should be. (It is improving, though.) The inevitable chaos after the war, assuming Ukraine survives intact and independen

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        It's a way into Europe. They have been getting fines from regulators here over GDPR violations, which makes their brand toxic to European customers. If they can get a foothold in Ukraine they might be able to do some business here one day.

    • I can't wait until they use it to identify some "refugees" who can't explain photos of themselves with some of Moscow's top brass. That would also be a totally ethical use of Clearviw AI.

      • I can't wait until they use it to identify some "refugees" who can't explain photos of themselves with some of Moscow's top brass. That would also be a totally ethical use of Clearviw AI.

        Another thing they can do is take pictures of all the dead Russian soldiers, use the AI to identify them if the body didn't have identification papers, then send a text message to the soldier's family with the picture attached. Even include where the guy got killed.

        Wait for the hilarity to ensure.

  • Just like any other tool, it can be used for good and bad.

    I think this story shows we should ban tool, or hate thems just because some uses can be bad.

  • This kind of AI augmented identification is a weapon allowing for the targeting of command structures. It is the basis of the next level of precision guidance; down to the exact individual. It should be used in war. It should not be used outside of war.

  • Ukraine has been doing something similar for a long time now. They have this website https://myrotvorets.center/ [myrotvorets.center] since about 2014ish, right after the government overthrow. Well here you can find names, addresses, passport photos, phone numbers, names and pictures of kids (literally like 2 year olds) what schools/kindergardens they go to and other info on PEOPLE THAT DISAGREE WITH CURRENT GOVERNMENT.

    Ever disagree with your own current government on some even minor issue? Ever comment about it on some websit

    • Oh fun fact. Before Zelensky got elected, when he ran in the so called "Opposition", they added his wife and her info to this website. He had a fit, was a big scandal, eventually, I think after he won, they took her info down. But, he never shut down the site. He was and is keenly aware of its existence, but under his presidentship the government continued cooperation with this literal human rights violation.

  • Honestly not a fan of Clearview, that said if there ever was a apt use case it's this.

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