Amazon facial recognition Archives

Amazon halts use of facial recognition software by police

06/15/202006/12/2020 Jorge Gonzalez

Facial recognition software - face detection

The e-commerce giant hopes the move “might give Congress enough time to put in place appropriate rules” Amazon announced last week that it would stop allowing police to use its facial recognition software for one year. This places a wider spotlight on the rising concerns over the technology’s unfair discrimination on certain groups of people. The company did not provide any explanation for having made the decision. Amazon released a short blog post announcing the withdrawal of its facial recognition software use by police. That said, it comes at a…

Amazon facial recognition technology found to be gender and racial bias

01/31/201901/29/2019 Jennifer Goula

Amazon facial recognition technology - algorithim - computer - tech

An MIT lab study has revealed Amazon’s Rekognition underperformed when trying to identify females or individuals with darker skin. Amazon facial recognition technology, Rekognition, is widely used by police departments and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across the US. However, recent research has revealed that the deep-learning software, which has emerged as a leader in the facial recognition field, still has a few serious bugs to work out in regard to gender and racial bias. Rekognition made no mistakes when identifying the gender of a light-skinned man. According to a…