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Clearview AI this week revealed that it has offered the Ukraine government free access to the companys facial recognition AI (artificial intelligence) technology, potentially to uncover Russian assailants, identify refugees, combat misinformation, and identify the dead.

The news comes weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine and was shared in an exclusive to the Reuters news organization. These potential use cases for the Ukraine defense ministry again put the spotlight on facial recognition technology that has come under fire for the potential for misuse and privacy violations. These are all important considerations for CIOs and IT leaders to weigh as they consider the use of facial recognition, AI software, or really any personal data that requires solid governance and compliance practices.

In many jurisdictions, it is required to gain the permission of the owner of the image before it can be used. Clearview AI built its database of images by scraping social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, never giving individuals the opportunity to opt out of their database.

There are plenty of potentially positive use cases for facial recognition technology, from the face unlock features already available to you on your smart phone to the finding missing children, to future use cases that add convenience such as identifying your face (no need for your passport or drivers license) when you check in at an airport.

Why do you need passports, for example, asks Sagar Shah, an AI ethics specialist and client partner at Fractal.ai. You just enter the airport and the system automatically knows who each person is. All the security protection and X-rays are automated.

But any system that contains the personal information of millions of people also has the potential to be abused.

Facial recognition AI has been fraught in recent years as activists have accused governments and other organizations misusing the technology. Critics of the technology have cited multiple concerns ranging from flawed performance in recognizing people with darker skin tones due to biased training data and algorithms, to the privacy issues that surface when cameras everywhere can recognize your face. These concerns have led to tech giants such as IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft banning sales of their face recognition software to law enforcement.

In November Facebook parent Meta went a step further, shutting down its facial recognition system and deleting more than a billion peoples individual facial recognition templates. But it may have been a case of closing the barn door after the horse had already escaped.

Among the issues in Clearview AIs case is how it built its database of images -- by scraping the ones posted on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. These social media companies have taken measures to end the practice by Clearview, but the company still has all the images it has scraped from these sites. The UKs Information Commissioners Office fined Clearview AI 17 million for breaching UK data protection laws, alleging that the company failed to inform citizens that it was collecting their photos.

Clearview AI still sells its facial recognition software to law enforcement and celebrates law enforcement use cases on its website.

Clearview AIs founder told Reuters that his companys database also included more than 2 billion images from Russian social media service VKontakte, which could be useful in applications by the Ukraine government. He told Reuters that he had not offered the technology to Russia.

Omdia Research Director for AI and Intelligent Automation Natalia Modjeska says that the move to provide this software to Ukraine may be Clearview AIs attempt to rehabilitate its reputation by capitalizing on the Ukraine crisis with positive public relations.

Its unclear whether Ukraine will use Clearview, according to the Reuters report, which also noted that the Ukraine Ministry of Digital Transformation had previously said it was considering offers of technology from US-based AI companies like Clearview.

Even if there may be positive use cases, facial recognition software can be used in violation of human rights. Fractal.ais Shah points out the example from Hong Kong a few years ago when China was using facial recognition software to identify protesters.

They used it to figure out, oh, this guys protesting, lets send the police to their home, Shah says.

Tech Giants Back Off Selling Facial Recognition AI to Police

Facebook Shuts Down Facial Recognition

The Problem with AI Facial Recognition

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Clearview AI Offers Face Recognition AI to Ukraine - InformationWeek

Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): The four arrested alleged members of banned organisation Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh (JMB), were using the high end technology to dodge the Indian police, said the officials.

On March 13 morning the anti terrorist squad (ATS) had arrested four alleged JMB activists- Fazhar Ali (32), Mohammad Aqueel (24), Jahiruddin Pathan (28) and Faizar Junel from Aishbagh area of the state capital. It is alleged that the activists were preparing remote based sleeper cell in Bhopal. Later three more arrests were made one in Bhopal and two were picked from Howrah city of West Bengal.

During the investigations, it has come to fore that the JMB members were using high tech software and hardware for a long time to remain unnoticed for the security agencies.

They were using special paid software for chatting and thus their chats did not come in the notice of the security agencies, but it failed to escape from the lens of the higher agencies and the module was busted, said one of the officers privy to the investigations.

Similarly the financial transactions was also done in much concealed manner, the agencies took long to crack the trail. The mobile phones, laptop seized by the ATS have revealed the high-tech software and hardware the module was using.

The officials are also looking people who were in contact of these activists. It is claimed that they had met more than 100 people and tried to influence them with their ideology.

Officials privy to the case claimed that it may take weeks to find out the total number of people involved into the case.

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Continued here:
Bhopal: To avoid detection, JMB used advanced technology - Free Press Journal

Arturia may have just dropped the best deal weve seen this year - so far - for budding home producers. Currently, you can pick up an Arturia MiniLab MkII with 25% off, plus three additional software titles worth over $/400. So, not only will you bag yourself a powerful and highly portable MIDI controller, but youll also load up your laptop with a slew of software and plugins - all for only $99/75!

Its safe to say we are big fans of the Arturia MiniLab, which is featured in our guide to the best cheap MIDI keyboards. Despite its tiny size, the MiniLab includes all the features youve come to expect from a modern controller. For example, the 25 keys are velocity-sensitive, meaning you can impart some level of expression to the notes, and better yet, the 16 RGB-backlit pressure-sensitive pads are ideal for programming drum patterns or triggering samples.

The MiniLab even comes with dual touch strips used to control pitch bends and modulation and the keyboard even has a whopping 16 rotary encoders. Now, once you bundle that with Ableton Live Lite, Analog Lab Intro, UVI Grand Piano, Mini V, Stage-73 V and Rev Plate-140, you have a complete music production package for only $99/75.

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Save 25% off the Arturia MiniLab MkII controller and bag $/400 worth of free software with this mega bundle deal - MusicRadar

The New Class electric-first platform will replace BMW's current architecture lineup, the UKL small platform used for BMW compact cars and the Mini brand, and the CLAR platform which is used for bigger BMWs.

The reason for offering it to other automakers and suppliers is to reduce costs. We are working on a highly efficient setup for better profitability for all partners, Martin said.

BMW and Qualcomm have both said that automakers should not develop unique software systems that cannot be shared.

The idea is to find economies of scale to allow automakers to quickly scale-up advancements that if you tried to implement by yourself [would need] a significant amount of investment, Duggal said. He added that developing closed systems also increased the time to market.

The BMW/Qualcomm/Arriver package would represent a bookshelf that would allow customers to select what they need and also return data back to the depository to improve the overall quality of the product, Duggal said.

BMW will roll-out Level 3 hands-free driving capability with the new 7-Series sedan, but the new system from 2025 will improve that capability, Martin said.

We will reuse the IP [intellectual property] we created in the current generation for base to enhance the functionality and create an even better product, he said.

Martin said for example the new Level 3 system could expand the so-called operational design domain (ODD) for hands-free use to include tunnels, low temperature driving, night driving and additional roads other than highways.

Germany last year approved Mercedes-Benz's Level 3 Drive Pilot for use on highways at speed of up to 60 kph (37 mph)

The new automated driving hardware and software would roll out on midsize vehicles on the New Class platform, Martin said.

BMW would likely offer two options, with cars on a Level 3 capability given an upgraded sensor package including additional lidars while the standard package would offer Level 2 Plus with address to address capability available as an over-the-air update.

Level 2 Plus is close to hands-off driving but requires the driver to be in control of the vehicle at all times, while Level 3 hands control and legal responsibility to the vehicle and vehicle manufacturer.

The driver is warned when they need to take back control.

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BMW, Qualcomm to offer autonomous-driving platform to third parties - Automotive News Europe

This helps users digitally sign GST and income tax returns for all classes of assessees, including corporate taxpayers

This helps users digitally sign GST and income tax returns for all classes of assessees, including corporate taxpayers

Odyssey Technologies Limited on March 17 released xorkeesign G2C, a product that helps users digitally sign GST and income tax returns for all classes of assessees, including corporate taxpayers. It also helps register the digital certificates of company executives with the MCA portal.

It is a free to use product. Right now, we are offering this service to banking sector. Very soon, we will be adding healthcare and education sectors, said B. Robert Raja, MD.

xorkeesign G2C is a browser extension that stays invisible until a user accesses the income tax, GST or MCA portals and then helps the users sign their returns with no additional tool requirement.

It works on major platforms such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Ubuntu. The target customers are CAs and other tax consultants, corporate tax departments, MSME and individual assessee, he said.

xorkee is a patent pending infrastructure from Odyssey Tech. It seeks to unify the divergent digital signature application models prevalent today. When fully rolled out, it will be the biggest public key system in the world. Right now, it is the only product that works on android mobile phones. Apple Mac versions will be added soon, he said.

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Odyssey Tech rolls out software product to simplify tax filing - The Hindu