

The Russian interior ministry and NtechLab did not reply to requests for comment.

"Far from being benign security tools which can be abused, such tools are deeply rooted in some of humanity's most destructive ideas and purpose-made for discrimination." "The findings underline the ugly racism baked into these systems," said Edin Omanovic, advocacy director at Privacy International, a rights charity based in London.

The IPVM findings - seen exclusively by the Thomson Reuters Foundation - have sparked concern among civil rights groups, who say racial profiling is common in the country and note that authorities have already used AI to identify and detain anti-government protesters.
APP RACIST PHOTO CAPTION SOFTWARE
There is no indication yet that Russian police have targeted minorities using the software developed by the firms - AxxonSoft, Tevian, VisionLabs and NtechLab - whose products are sold to authorities and businesses in the country and abroad.īut Moscow-based AxxonSoft said the Thomson Reuters Foundation's enquiry prompted it to disable its ethnicity analytics feature, saying in an emailed response it was not interested "in promoting any technologies that could be a basis for ethnic segregation".
APP RACIST PHOTO CAPTION CODE
TBILISI, July 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - (Editor's note: contains offensive language and terms of racial abuse)įrom scanning residents' faces to let them into their building to spotting police suspects in a crowd, the rise of facial recognition is accompanied by a growing chorus of concern about unethical uses of the technology.Ī report published on Monday by U.S.-based researchers showing that Russian facial recognition companies have built tools to detect a person's race has raised fears among digital rights groups, who describe the technology as "purpose-made for discrimination."ĭeveloper guides and code examples unearthed by video surveillance research firm IPVM show software advertised by four of Russia's biggest facial analytics firms can use artificial intelligence (AI) to classify faces based on their perceived ethnicity or race. * Facial recognition firms under pressure over ethical concerns * Rights activists say software 'purpose made for discrimination' * Russian companies found offering race-detection tools We all need to care for each other, because I mean in the long run, we're all in this together, you know?" says Jackson.An AI tool that categorises people according to their perceived race can be used by police to search for suspects, but even some firms developing the tech warn of its potential for discrimination I don't know if it’s aftereffects or what, but there are still some people that are like that for sure around here that just don't speak out about how they are. "This community really needs to be united more. Unfortunately, these Corbin High School students say that incidents like this one aren't uncommon at their school or in this town - and they say now they're ready for a change. Appropriate action will be taken upon completion of the investigation.” Corbin school administration is investigating the incident and in no way condones the content of the referenced photograph. “Corbin Independent Schools was made aware of an inappropriate photograph involving two Corbin High School students. The African American population at this school is low.Ĭorbin Independent School’s leader, Superintendent David Cox, released this statement that says: And everybody is created equal and so, really no point in racism." McCauley says, "Corbin has a long history of racism in the school and in the town and I thought it was past us, but this act right here showed me that it wasn’t. Both Jackson and McCauley say a teacher was not in the room at the time. That third student is Corbin High Junior, Taytan McCauley. But the third student in the picture was. This junior says he wasn't in the classroom when yesterday's incident occurred. They just pretended like he was hanging him, and everybody just played it off as a joke and everybody just went about their day." The photo's caption reads, "Your average day at Corbin."Ĭorbin High Junior, Nathaniel Jackson says, "The black student - he's a quiet student he kinda let it happen he doesn't really show his feelings much. The photo shows an African American student with a noose around his neck being held up by a Caucasian student. (LEX 18) - Corbin High School students are speaking out after a photo from the school has been circulated on social media.
