Today, tech crunch reports that IBM CEO Arvind Krishna announced IBM will no longer sell facial recognition services, as part of a letter in support of the Justice in Policing Act, introduced in Congress. Krishna called for a “national dialogue” on whether it should be used. He wrote:
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. 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.
He added: “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.”