Clearview AI to offer facial-recognition technology to banks and schools

An American startup, Clearview AI, plans to expand its facial-recognition services beyond law enforcement—to banks and the education system. The Register reports.

“Clearview AI is interested in using the technology as a way to prevent crime and financial fraud. Facial recognition is already used to unlock phones, provide access to buildings, verify identities, and even for payments,” said Hoan Ton-Tet, the company’s chief executive officer.

According to him, the company provides its technology without a large database of more than 20 billion images via Clearview Consent to software providers for visitor management. Some of them operate in schools, he added.

Ton-Tet believes that facial recognition can be used to prevent the theft of personal data and fraud.

“For example, before a large banking transaction, it may be useful to perform facial recognition of the account holder to ensure that the money will not be stolen,” he said.

In May, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office fined Clearview AI $9.5 million and ordered the company to delete the information it holds on citizens.

In the same month, the startup agreed to suspend the sale of a biometric database to private firms in the United States.

In November 2021, the Clearview AI software entered the ranks of the ten most accurate facial-recognition systems.

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