As companies start using AI-software to detect race or ethnicity, often as part of market research, researchers worry it will fuel bias and discrimination
When Revlon Inc. wanted to know what lipstick women of different races and in different countries were wearing, the cosmetics giant didn't need to send out a survey. Tweets: @georgejoseph94 , @evan_greer , @steve_lockstep , @hoofnagle , @blackamazon , @acidflask , @zaya_cb , @evanselinger , @diplomaprivileg , @hypervisible , and @rctatman Tweets: George Joseph / @georgejoseph94 : What does it mean when companies claim they can detect the race of a person's face when race is not a biological reality? The media should not just accept their premises + naturalize AI phrenology https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... Evan Greer / @evan_greer : I spoke to @WSJ for this harrowing story from @parmy. The way companies openly describe using this tech to discriminate underscores that banning gov use of facial rec only scratches the surface of what's needed to prevent AI from causing unimaginable harm https://www.wsj.com/... Steve Wilson / @steve_lockstep : Check out the great new work on individuation by Anna Johnston @SalingerPrivacy: How should we address this type of data analysis if it falls short of identification, doesn't happen to constitute Personal Data and therefore isn't in scope for conventional privacy rules? https://twitter.com/... Chris Hoofnagle / @hoofnagle : WSJ: “In the last few years, companies have started using such race-detection software to understand how certain customers use their products, who looks at their ads, or what people of different racial groups like.” https://www.wsj.com/...? @blackamazon : This isn't quiet . Folks were told. And it's also my never ending rage over the simplistic analysis of race only at the site of computation. Surveillance tech intervention that does not adress the surveillance BEGINS with being black ? is useless https://twitter.com/... @acidflask : *deep sigh* here we go again - AI for race detection https://www.wsj.com/... Zaya C Bulag / @zaya_cb : An article on companies that provide facial analysis tools and race detection services. Including info on China's Hikvision (used to ID Uyghurs), Face++ (relevant for #Mongolia)+Wiskott's algorithm (Uni of Bochum,🇩🇪) 99% accurate at detecting ethnicity. https://www.wsj.com/... Evan Selinger / @evanselinger : There is so much harm that can come from automated facial analysis of demographic features (race, gender, age, etc.) just like there is with automated affect analysis even when systems don't target personal identifiers 😡https://www.wsj.com/ ... Diploma Privilege / @diplomaprivileg : Remote proctored bar exams that require video surveillance of Examinees to be given to ExamSoft, then run through a black box AI system, coupled w/ demographic data collection by bar examiners, is a recipe for disaster. https://twitter.com/... Doomscrolling Eternal / @hypervisible : Companies are using “race detection software” in order “to understand how certain customers use their products, who looks at their ads, or what people of different racial groups like.” 🤬🤬🤬 https://www.wsj.com/... Rachael Tatman / @rctatman : This is indefensible and should not have been built. https://twitter.com/...