Facial Recognition with John Hershey, Machine Learning Researcher

The Modern Digital Enterprise (formerly Device Squad)

In today's Device Squad, the digital transformation podcast from Anexinet, Steve and Glenn talk with John Hershey, Machine Learning Researcher at Google about the state of Facial Recognition (aka Face Surveillance) Technology, about AI bias, and about San Francisco's recent "ban" on the technology for government use. Is Facial Recognition a valuable public-safety tool or is it an infringement of our civil liberties?

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This episode also answers the following questions:

What does it mean when San Francisco— one of the most tech-friendly and tech-savvy cities in the world—is suddenly the first state to prohibit its government from using facial-recognition technology??

Why the ban? Why now? What's wrong with government agencies using Facial Recognition?

Is it really invasive? Or is it more about it not being perfect?

Where are we at with facial recognition? What would be the source for their data? How are they recognizing these faces, anyway?

Is this more about concern over the possibility of errors? Wrongful imprisonment? Are they simply worried about being sued? Or do they really care about our right to privacy?

What part does AI bias play into this?

If we recognize that bias exists, what steps are being taken to eliminate the bias? Is there a way to estimate or predict bias?

Is the ban worth it? Do we need more like it? What about other forms of recognition? Voice recognition, airport scanning, etc.

Links in the episode:

STUDY: Facial feature discovery for ethnicity recognition https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/widm.1278

San Francisco just banned facial-recognition technology https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/14/tech/san-francisco-facial-recognition-ban/index.html

SF Ban on Face Recognition - Acquisition of Surveillance Technology https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=7206781&GUID=38D37061-4D87-4A94-9AB3-CB113656159A

Facial recognition data collected by U.S. customs agency stolen by hackers https://www.salon.com/2019/06/11/facial-recognition-data-collected-by-u-s-customs-agency-stolen-by-hackers/

Facial Recognition Software Wrongly Identifies 28 Lawmakers As Crime Suspects https://www.npr.org/2018/07/26/632724239/facial-recognition-software-wrongly-identifies-28-lawmakers-as-crime-suspects?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=politics&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20180727&fbclid=IwAR1x74a-cBXMrZm_79UJHmHjxhUos4XunsivYU__ekdbsTgUPRU7bx54NuM

Does object recognition work for everyone? A new method to assess bias in CV systems https://ai.facebook.com/blog/new-way-to-assess-ai-bias-in-object-recognition-systems/

Don't smile for surveillance: Why airport face scans are a privacy trap https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/10/your-face-is-now-your-boarding-pass-thats-problem/

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says photos of travelers were taken in a data breach https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/10/us-customs-border-protection-says-photos-travelers-into-out-country-were-recently-taken-data-breach/?utm_term=.cb047794d0a2

Chickens Prefer Attractive People https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/animals-chickens-evolution-eggs-food/