How Ukrainian Forces are Using Facial Recognition Technology in the War?
Last week the internet was shaken by the revelation that Ukraine has tied up with Clearview AI for face recognition technology. The battle photographs spread in the press shortly after Russia attacked Ukraine, prompting Clearview AI founder Hoan Ton-That to consider the potential of utilizing his facial recognition software and database to assist in the identification of those who died in the conflict. Clearview agreed to release the technology for free after additional discussions with the governments of the United States and Ukraine. However, the decision divided the online world, with one side embracing technology’s capabilities and the other condemning how it is utilized.
This is not the first time face recognition has been used in war, but this is the first time it has been employed in this range. Clearview gave a database of faces collected from social media so that Ukraine may look up the identity of the deceased soldier using his or her photo.
It is so effective that it can find information on a soldier even if the soldier does not have a social media presence. Ukrainian officials just take photographs of dismissed soldiers and put them through the Clearview system to determine the soldier’s identity. It is so accurate that it can identify a person even if their face is damaged. The same technique is used to detect foreigners who are trapped on the battlefield.
However, privacy advocacy groups and those opposed to technology have already spoken out against testing technology in a war zone. And they claim that a single misidentification can result in registering the death of innocent citizens, as has been recorded in wrongful arrests in various nations.
But the great opposition came after the implementation of the technology, regarding the way Ukrainians used it. Ukrainian officials used it to identify the remains of Russian soldiers since Clearview’s database includes Russian citizens from social media sites such as Russia’s largest social network Vkontakte (VK). The Ukrainian officials are using Clearview mobile app to scan the Russian soldier’s image.
They are sending messages to the fallen soldier’s family via social media using his photograph, alleging that their son, father, brother, or spouse has died in battle from unknown social media accounts. According to some, this is an obvious breach of the Geneva Convention (disgracing dead soldiers and tracking their personal information). Ukrainians are using this to win their psychological warfare, but it may backfire because the Russian people’s emotional anguish lends the Russian government greater support.
The Ukraine-Russia war became the classic example of using face recognition technology in the war field, as the efficient way of tech use and its use to intrude on the privacy of soldiers and their families.
Despite the fact that the technology has previously been employed in battles, this war will be recognized for its full-fledged deployment. Let’s wait for the actual outcome of this tech use and what message it will send to the future.
