Michael Punke, VP of Global Public Policy at Amazon Web Services, said.

“Over the past several months, we’ve talked to customers, researchers, academics, policymakers, and others to understand how to best balance the benefits of facial recognition with the potential risks.

It’s critical that any legislation protect civil rights while also allowing for continued innovation and practical application of the technology.”

In a blog post today, Amazon highlighted five guidelines to ensure facial recognition is developed and used ethically.

The first of the five calls for facial recognition to follow existing laws which protect civil liberties. To ensure accountability, the second guideline wants all facial recognition to be reviewed by humans before any decision is taken.

Other guidelines include a call for transparancy in how agencies are using facial recognition technology, and visual notices placed where it’s being used in public or commercial settings.

Facial Recognition Concerns

The company has faced criticism of its ‘Rekognition’ system which is used by police forces and has been pitched to agencies such as US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In a letter addressed to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, employees wrote:

“We refuse to build the platform that powers ICE, and we refuse to contribute to tools that violate human rights.

As ethically concerned Amazonians, we demand a choice in what we build and a say in how it is used.”

The letter was sent following ICE’s separation of immigrant children from their families at the US border and subsequent detainment. There’s no evidence ICE ultimately purchased or used Amazon’s technology.

In July last year, the American Civil Liberties Union tested Amazon’s facial recognition technology on members of Congress to see if they match with a database of criminal mugshots.

Rekognition compared pictures of all members of the House and Senate against 25,000 arrest photos. The false matches disproportionately affected members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Dr Matt Wood, General Manager of AI at Amazon Web Services, commented on the ACLU’s findings later that month. He said the ACLU left Rekognition’s default confidence setting of 80 percent on when it suggests 95 percent or higher for law enforcement.

Wood, however, went on to say it showed how standards are needed to ensure facial recognition systems are used properly. He called for “the government to weigh in and specify what temperature (or confidence levels) it wants law enforcement agencies to meet to assist in their public safety work.”

The call for facial recognition standards extends beyond the US. In China, the CEO of SenseTime – the world’s most funded AI startup – also said he wants to see facial recognition standards established for a ‘healthier’ industry.

In the UK, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham announced her office has identified facial recognition technology as a priority to establish what protections are needed for the public.

SenseTime is so well-funded not just because of its powerful facial recognition technology, but also from adoption by the Chinese government. The firm aims to process and analyse over 100,000 simultaneous real-time streams from traffic cameras, ATMs, and more as part of its ‘Viper’ system.

If such a system was deployed with biased algorithms, it will exacerbate current societal problems. Algorithmic Justice League founder Joy Buolamwini gave a fantastic presentation during the World Economic Forum last month on the need to fight AI bias.

As Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben would say: “With great power, comes great responsibility”.

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SenseTime raised more than $1.2 billion last year; including a round announced in May that valued it at more than $4.5 billion.

According to Bloomberg sources, the company is aiming for $2 billion more funding but the information is private. The sources claim investor Alibaba is working on the fundraising.

Following a fundraising round in 2018, Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai said:

“We are especially impressed by their R&D capabilities in deep learning and visual computing. Our business at Alibaba is already seeing tangible benefits from our investments in AI and we are committed to further investment.”

Other investors include Fidelity International, Silver Lake Partners, and Hopu Capital. A stake in the company was sold to chipmaker Qualcomm in 2017 when the company was valued at more than $1.5 billion.

SenseTime is particularly valuable due to providing technology for the Chinese government’s vast surveillance network. Its ‘Viper’ system aims to process and analyse over 100,000 simultaneous real-time streams from traffic cameras, ATMs, and more to automatically tag and keep track of individuals.

Earlier this year, SenseTime CEO Xu Li called for facial recognition standards to be established for a ‘healthier’ industry.

With China aiming to become a world leader in AI, investors are flocking to invest in related companies. The startup claims to be experiencing around 400 percent growth in recent years and has expanded beyond surveillance to industries such as connected cars.

SenseTime reportedly serves over 400 customers including high-profile brands such as Honda, Nvidia, and Huawei.

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SenseTime is among China’s most renowned AI companies. Back in April, we reported it had become the world’s most funded AI startup.

Part of the company’s monumental success is the popularity of facial recognition in China where it’s used in many aspects of citizens’ lives. Just yesterday, game developer Tencent announced it’s testing facial recognition to check users’ ages.

Xu Li, CEO of SenseTime, says immigration officials doubted the accuracy of facial recognition technology when he first introduced his own. “We knew about it 20 years ago and, combined with fingerprint checks, the accuracy is only 53 per cent,” one told him.

Facial recognition has come a long way since 20 years ago. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have led to even greater leaps, resulting in companies such as SenseTime.

To dispel the idea that facial recognition is still inaccurate, Li wants ‘trust levels’ to be established.

“With standards, technology adopters can better understand the risk involved, just like credit worthiness for individuals and companies,” Xu said to South China Morning Post. “Providers of facial recognition can be assigned different trust levels, ranging from financial security at the top to entertainment uses.”

Many of the leading facial recognition technologies have their own built-in trust levels. These levels determine how certain the software must be to call it a match.

Back in July, AI News reported on the findings of ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) which found Amazon’s facial recognition AI erroneously labelled those with darker skin colours as criminals more often when matching against mugshots.

Amazon claims the ACLU left the facial recognition service’s default confidence setting of 80 percent on – when it suggests 95 percent or higher for law enforcement.

Responding to the ACLU’s findings, Dr Matt Wood, GM of Deep Learning and AI at Amazon Web Services, also called for regulations. However, Wood asks the government to force a minimum confidence level for the use of facial recognition in law enforcement.

Li and Wood may be calling for different regulations, but they – and many other AI leaders – agree that some are essential to ensure a healthy industry.

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The latest round of funding was led by Alibaba Group Holdings to extend SenseTime’s existing one billion dollar valuation. Other investors which took part in the series-C fundraising include Temasek Holdings and Suning.Com Co Ltd.

While the company is yet to disclose its current valuation, Bloomberg reported it’s over $3 billion.

Joe Tsai, Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman, said in a statement: “We are especially impressed by their R&D capabilities in deep learning and visual computing. Our business at Alibaba is already seeing tangible benefits from our investments in AI and we are committed to further investment.”

SenseTime’s facial recognition and video analysis technology are also used by the Chinese government. While it’s the partnership with the latter which has undoubtedly led to such a high valuation, SenseTime reportedly serves over 400 customers — including high-profile brands such as Honda, Nvidia, and Huawei.

While some practices such as surveillance are controversial, other uses for SenseTime’s technology are more generally welcomed. The safety of driverless cars, for example, can be improved using the company’s video analysing technologies.

SenseTime is aiming for its ‘Viper’ system to be able to process and analyse over 100,000 simultaneous real-time streams from traffic cameras, ATMs, and more to automatically tag and keep track of individuals.

Some Western governments have displayed a wariness to foreign technologies which, in theory, could be used for surveillance by another state. SenseTime’s partner Huawei is a prime example of this with their ongoing struggles in the U.S. consumer smartphone and telecommunications markets.

With the rivalry between the U.S. and China to become the world leader in artificial intelligence, it would not be a surprise to see regulations limiting the use of foreign AI being discussed in the coming years.

What are your thoughts on SenseTime’s funding?

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