Dallas police move forward with controversial AI surveillance tool

The Dallas Police Department has received the green light from the local city council to use Clearview AI, a controversial facial recognition tool.

‘The world’s most controversial company'

Clearview AI hosts a database with an estimated 30 billion facial images scraped from across the web. These include facial images taken from private social media accounts without the knowledge of their owners. This has drawn heavy criticism from privacy watchdogs and civil rights groups and has earned Clearview AI the title of “the world’s most controversial company.”

Nevertheless, the company has found success in marketing itself to law enforcement agencies for the purpose of finding the identities of persons of interest. Police officers can submit an image of a face to the Clearview AI database which will return any available matches.

Dallas police: A ‘game-changer’

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia is excited about using the technology. "I can tell you that it will be a game changer for our hardworking detectives to have this technology," Chief Garcia said.

Other law enforcement bodies that use Clearview AI include the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), whose Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit spent approximately $2 million to license the software. 

But it is unknown for what other purposes DHS — or other agencies, for that matter — may be using Clearview AI or similar tools. 

A history of misuse

Dallas Police Major Stephen Williams claims the department will only use the database to investigate official crimes.

"This is not a license plate reader for humans. We have to have a criminal offense before we start doing things," said Major Williams, according to Fox 4.

But concerns still remain given past misuse of the software by government agencies.

A Buzzfeed report in April 2021 found that employees at over 1,800 publicly funded agencies have used Clearview AI often “without the knowledge or consent of their superiors.” These included military branches, health organizations, local and state police, state attorneys general, federal law enforcement and even public schools.

Clearview AI used against taxpayers after January 6th

Clearview AI is also known for being heavily used by law enforcement after January 6th, 2021. Following the rally at the US Capitol, the company saw a surge in the use of its software, according to the company’s chief executive, Hoan Ton-That:

There was a 26 percent increase of searches over our usual weekday search volume.

This was in part due to law enforcement bodies like the Miami and Oxford Police Departments using it to find taxpaying citizens who had been at the Capitol.