U.S. police forces have run nearly a million searches using Clearview AI's facial recognition platform, according to the company's CEO.
In addition, Hoan Ton-That told the BBC that Clearview AI's database is up to around 30 billion images, up from 20 billion images about a year ago and 3 billion in 2020.
- Clearview scrapes social media sites and the web to populate its database with publicly available photos of people, which are used without their permission.
- Last year, Clearview told investors that it aims to have 100 billion facial photos of people in its database within the year, which would be enough to identify "everyone in the world."
- While not at that level, the update suggests Clearview is doing well despite privacy concerns and efforts to block the practice by social media platforms.
- For example, a Miami assistant police chief told the BBC that the department uses Clearview to investigate all types of crimes, turning to the technology around 450 times each year.
- Police don't automatically make arrests based on the findings, he noted. "We either put that name in a photographic line-up, or we go about solving the case through traditional means."
- Privacy and data protection regulators in the U.K., France, and other countries have also threatened fines and/or ordered Clearview to delete and stop collecting the data of their citizens.
- Last May, Clearview agreed to settle a legal case led by the ACLU that accused the firm of violating Illinois' biometric data privacy law.
