Amazon.com's facial recognition tools incorrectly identified Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and 27 other members of Congress as people arrested for a crime during a test commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the watchdog said Thursday. The ACLU said its findings show that Amazon's so-called Rekognition technology -- already in use at law-enforcement agencies in Oregon and Orlando -- is hampered by inaccuracies that disproportionately put people of color at risk and should prompt regulators to halt "law enforcement use of face surveillance." Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post. For its test, the ACLU of Northern California created a database of 25,000 publicly available arrest photos, though the civil liberties watchdog did not give details about where it obtained the images or the kinds of individuals in the photos. It then used Amazon's Rekognition software to compare that database against photos of every member of the U.S. House and Senate.

These matches were disproportionately people of color, according to the ACLU. Some 39 percent were African-American and Latino lawmakers, versus 20 percent who identify as a person of color in Congress, the ACLU said. It added that Rekognition could exacerbate harm because people of color are already targeted at an above-average rate by the police.

Civil liberties group Big Brother Watch has launched a legal challenge against the use of automatic facial recognition technology by London's Metropolitan Police force. The privacy campaigners described the Met's "China-style" facial recognition system, which uses AI software to match people's faces to a criminal database, as "dangerously authoritarian." "Facial recognition is the latest Orwellian mass surveillance tool to be lawlessly rolled out by the state," Big Brother Watch writes on the campaign website. "These real-time facial recognition cameras are biometric checkpoints, identifying members of the public without their knowledge. Police have begun feeding secret watchlists to the cameras, containing not only criminals but suspects, protesters, football fans and innocent people with mental health problems."

Following the launch of the Law Society's Public Policy Technology and Law Commission to examine the use of algorithms in the justice system, and its call for evidence, it is worth considering the interface between lawtech which uses algorithms and the tightening global regulatory framework for data protection and privacy. The quote from Google's research director Peter Norvig, 'We don't have better algorithms. We just have more data,' invites interrogation of the value chain linking AI software and data assets: does the algorithm or the data generate more value for a professional services organisation, or is the added value created by determining the right blend for each context? And can software achieve that? At the commission launch, data scientist Professor Sofia Olhede focused on data quality rather than quantity – returning to the'garbage in, garbage out' principle that is too often forgotten or ignored.

AI is continually improving climate models. As the planet continues to warm, climate change impacts are worsening. In 2016, there were 772 weather and disaster events, triple the number that occurred in 1980. Twenty percent of species currently face extinction, and that number could rise to 50 percent by 2100. And even if all countries keep their Paris climate pledges, by 2100, it's likely that average global temperatures will be 3 C higher than in pre-industrial times.

A group of tech experts are developing a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot to help victims of domestic violence more easily access the justice system and counselling programmes as the problem balloons in Thailand. Studies have shows that people live in fear of judgement and may be more embarrassed to relay the whole truth about the sensitive and often, humiliating, experience. Some fear the pity that falls upon them when they relay their experiences and others do not understand why the person that they are relaying their experience to, does not show any pity or any emotion for that matter. This is where the AI machines are brought into the picture when it comes to domestic violence. People understand that they are speaking to just a machine.

Driverless AI, the automated machine learning platform from H2O.ai, is now available for ordering through IBM . For a more comprehensive description of Driverless AI, see the H2O.ai website. IBM and H2O.ai collaborate to enable you to order Driverless AI directly from IBM. H2O Driverless AI is a high-performance, GPU-enabled software application for the rapid development and deployment of advanced predictive analytics models. It lowers the barrier to entry for machine learning by automating a large portion of the process of algorithm selection and model building and tuning. Driverless AI uses machine learning interpretability to create easy-to-follow visualization and explanations of models, which are especially useful in regulated industries.

A legal challenge against the use of automatic facial recognition technology by police has been launched by a civil liberties group. Automatic Facial Recognition uses CCTV or surveillance cameras to record and compare facial characteristics with images on police databases. Lawyers for Big Brother Watch argue the use of AFR breaches the rights of individuals under the Human Rights Act. The Metropolitan Police says the technology will help keep London safe. The system is being piloted in London, with three other forces - Humberside, South Wales, and Leicestershire - also trialling the technology. However, it has proved controversial, with one watchdog describing its use in public places as "very intrusive".

KIM LANDERS: From self-driving cars to facial recognition new technology powered by artificial intelligence is changing the way we live and work and how we make decisions. But what is this rapid rise of new technology doing to our Human Rights? That's the question a new project from the Human Rights Commission is going to tackle. It's trying to identify the issues at stake before coming up with a final report by late next year. Edward Santow is the Human Rights Commissioner.

KIM LANDERS: From self-driving cars to facial recognition new technology powered by artificial intelligence is changing the way we live and work and how we make decisions. But what is this rapid rise of new technology doing to our Human Rights? That's the question a new project from the Human Rights Commission is going to tackle. It's trying to identify the issues at stake before coming up with a final report by late next year. Edward Santow is the Human Rights Commissioner.