A man, Robert Williams, has sued a community police in the United States for arresting him based on facial recognition algorithms.
Williams was arrested for stealing goods from a shop for a crime he did not commit, making it the first lawsuit to call into question the controversial technology’s risk of throwing innocent people in jail.
The lawsuit noted that facial recognition is frequently inaccurate, particularly with Black subjects and a low-quality picture.
The detective used facial recognition technology on a grainy image from the video, and the system flagged Williams as a potential match based on a driver’s license photo.
The police itself has acknowledged that Williams’ arrest was based on “sloppy investigative work” and other mistakes.
Two people had earlier sued the police last year based on the issue.
Several cities in the United States have to ban the practice of facial recognition tech, due to the recent backlash, even as Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon have pledged to keep their systems out of police hands.