Google hits pause on selling facial recognition tech over abuse fears

The ethical dilemma swirling around facial recognition technology has prompted Google to hit pause on selling its own system to the public.

On Thursday, Google's Cloud business said it was holding off on offering a facial recognition system for general-purposes, citing the potential for abuse.

"We continue to work with many organizations to identify and address these challenges, and unlike some other companies, Google Cloud has chosen not to offer general-purpose facial recognition APIs before working through important technology and policy questions," company Vice President of Global Affairs Kent Walker wrote in a Thursday blog post.

Walker's statement was likely a subtle jab toward Amazon, which has been offering a facial recognition system to customers, including US law enforcement. Amazon's system, dubbed Rekognition, can identify people's faces in digital images and videos, making it useful for police to quickly look up suspects in criminal investigations. However, civil liberty groups fear the same technology can be abused to power mass surveillance over security cameras to track everyday citizens.

Walker actually devoted most of the post to the benefits of facial recognition and AI algorithms that can decipher objects in images. For example, Google recently developed an AI model to help eye doctors quickly identify whether their diabetic patients suffered from a complication that can cause permanent blindness if left untreated.

"Our AI model now detects diabetic retinopathy with a level of accuracy on par with human retinal specialists," Walker wrote. "This means doctors and staff can use this assistive technology to screen more patients in less time, sparing people from blindness through a more timely diagnosis."

https://mashable.com/article/google-hits-pause-selling-facial-recognition-tech-over-abuse-fears/#51z_QZTw0mqM