ACM statement on facial recognition technology

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) U.S. Technology Policy Committee (USTPC) released a statement on 30 June calling for "an immediate suspension of the current and future private and governmental use of FR [facial recognition] technologies in all circumstances known or reasonably foreseeable to be prejudicial to established human and legal rights." The Committee concludes that, when rigorously evaluated, the technology too often produces results demonstrating clear bias based on ethnic, racial, gender, and other human characteristics recognizable by computer systems. The consequences of such bias, USTPC notes, frequently can and do extend well beyond inconvenience to profound injury, particularly to the lives, livelihoods and fundamental rights of individuals in specific demographic groups, including some of the most vulnerable populations in our society. Such bias and its effects are scientifically and socially unacceptable. The USTPC find that, at present, facial recognition technology is not sufficiently mature and reliable to be used fairly and safely.