In response to Black Lives Matter protests and to combat systemic racism, software major IBM has said it will no longer sell facial recognition services. Announcing the decision via a letter addressed to the members of the US Congress late on Monday, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna called for a “national dialogue” on whether it should be used at all. He also voiced support for a new bill aiming to reduce police violence and increase accountability.
“IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms, or any purpose which is not consistent with our values and Principles of Trust and Transparency,” Krishna, who took charge as IBM CEO in April, stated in the letter. “We believe now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies,” CNBC quoted citing the letter.
IBM's decision to shut down its facial recognition products has put the issues of police reform and racial inequity into the forefront of the national conversation at a time when #BlackLivesMatter protests are raging across the US.
At a time when facial recognition technology is being widely adopted by governments and corporations around the world for mass surveillance, leading to violations of privacy and basic human rights, IBM's stance stands out. However, it is to be noted that facial recognition services do not bring in much revenue for IBM. At the same time, the US government is a major customer for IBM and hence, the decision seems to be a bold one.
According to TechCrunch, Krishna’s letter also says that “vendors and users of Al systems have a shared responsibility to ensure that Al is tested for bias, particularly when used in law enforcement, and that such bias testing is audited and reported.” This is something of a parting shot to those in the field, Amazon in particular, that have been called out for the poor quality of facial recognition systems but have not ceased to market them. Amazon's controversial Rekognition service is not well thought of in the field.
Research has shown that facial recognition tools are worse at detecting and identify faces of darker-skinned people, thereby creating ample room for discrimination and persecution.
At the same time, it is unclear whether or how IBM will continue to perform AI research along these lines. It is not clear what the company will do with existing data sets used to train facial recognition models. It is also not clear if the company will even continue its research into facial recognition.
Krishna's letter also supported the proposals in the police reform bill, including measures to make it easier to prosecute police officers for misconduct in civil court, unveiled by the Democrats on Monday.
The letter also called for expanded training and education that Krishna said “is key to expanding economic opportunity for communities of color.”