the American company IBM will cease to engage in the development of face recognition technology. About this CEO of Arvind Krishna said in a letter to Congress.
the Head of IBM, called on Congress to implement reforms aimed at promoting racial justice and the fight against systemic racism, announcing that the company goes out of business face recognition.
the Decision by IBM to exit the business of face recognition adopted amid criticism of technology in racial and gender bias. Last year Amazon put the question to a vote of shareholders, 2,4% of which voted to ban the sale of technologies to government agencies for reasons of privacy and civil rights.
the appeal Krishna said that IBM opposed the use of any technology, including face detection technology for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of fundamental rights and freedoms of the person.
the Head of IBM calls for a national debate on the use of face recognition technology in law enforcement.
Krishna, who took over as Executive Director in April, said he is focused on the development of IBM cloud services, while remaining in business mainframes. Shares of the company for the year increased by just over one percent, market cap is 135 billion dollars.
Business IBM facial recognition, did not bring substantial revenues to the company, reports CNBC, citing sources inside the company, but the decision is notable for the technological giant, which counts the U.S. government as its main customer. According to a person familiar with the situation, IBM decided to abandon that part of the business because the business and ethical principles at the same time. The company in the last few weeks have noted the concerns of many employees about the use of technology, he added.
Krishna recognizes that artificial intelligence can help law enforcement agencies to ensure the security of citizens, but the users and developers of AI systems are responsible tested their algorithms on the bias. The head of IBM believes that this is particularly important in the case when the use of AI in law enforcement. So it should be tested such systems and results should be openly published.
the CEO of IBM also urged Congress to consider the bill Respublika Tim Scott from South Carolina, which would require States receiving Federal funding to disclose to the Ministry of justice more information on the use of violence by law enforcement officers in the Ministry of justice.