Amazon Bans Police To Use Its AI-Service

The news yarned around police brutality is not leaving our feed these days. Along with it, the use of AI-enabled facial recognition services put into the use of getting information about people of colour has also come out after the protests ignited the entire United States.

The leading technical giant Amazon which was providing its software ‘Rekognition’ for law enforcement activities has recently released a statement, putting a year moratorium on police use of its facial recognition technology.

The tech giant took this harsh decision as the advocates claimed it to be a violation of civil rights, which is mostly used to identify the people of coloured skin or belonging to the minority class.

Demanding for a stringent policy in respect to the use of ‘Rekognition’ from the governing bodies, Amazon’s statement reads: “We’ve advocated that governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge. We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested.”

Meanwhile, the company will continue providing its services for organizations like Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Marinus Analytics to use Amazon ‘Rekognition’ to help rescue human trafficking victims and reunite missing children with their families.

We are implementing a one-year moratorium on police use of Rekognition. https://t.co/UOvwrRXYEA

— Amazon News (@amazonnews) June 10, 2020