Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., is requesting New York-based artificial intelligence technology maker Clearview AI to ensure transparency in the company’s use of data obtained from its facial-recognition offering intended for COVID-19 contact tracing.
Markey wrote a letter to Clearview CEO Hoan Ton-That on April 30 detailing the former’s concerns over the firm’s marketing of its AI offering which may result in ethical biases amidst COVID-19 patient tracking efforts.
According to Markey, Clearview is yet to subject its technology to “rigorous accuracy and bias testing” and address privacy concerns with regards to image deletion in cases of false matches and other errors.
He noted that media reports discovered inaccuracies in Clearview’s claims that an independent review panel reviewed the firm’s technology in line with American Civil Liberties Union standards. ACLU also disproved the company’s claims and “exposed serious flaws with the panel’s assessment,” said Markey.
The senator urges Clearview to identify all government entities that deployed the company’s product and submit the tool for independent assessments by facial recognition experts.