IBM to resume facial recognition – for a US$69.8M price
What a difference three years makes. IBM, which in 2020 told Congress it would stop offering “general purpose” facial recognition in response to concerns about resulting racial profiling, has just signed a $69.8 million contract with the UK to develop a national biometrics platform. The purpose is to provide facial recognition capability to government immigration and law enforcement – but IBM stated this is not in conflict the 2020 promises because it won’t be used for public surveillance.