The US Air Force has awarded a contract to controversial American firm Clearview AI to determine the feasibility of augmented reality facial recognition glasses for use in “protecting airfields.”
According to the company, the cutting-edge technology would utilize a specific and controlled dataset rather than Clearview’s 10 billion-image archive to ensure that it will be an “excellent fit” for security.
Clearview AI chief executive officer Hoan Ton-That said that the tech firm values the position of the US Air Force in defending the country’s security and interests.
He clarified that the contract is still in the research and development phase, with the end goal of leveraging emerging capabilities to enhance security.
“We continually research and develop new technologies, processes, and platforms to meet current and future security challenges, and look forward to any opportunities that would bring us together with the Air Force in that realm,” Hoan told Motherboard.
Controversy
Clearview AI faced controversy after it was revealed that it uses a facial recognition algorithm that collects billions of photos from social media to build a database of images.
Platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter have accused the American company of violating their terms of service governing unauthorized use of uploaded videos and images.
Canadian authorities have already ordered Clearview AI to stop collecting social media images and delete photos and biometric facial arrays that it collected without consent from individuals.