Racial biases infect artificial intelligence

Detroit police wrongfully arrested Robert Julian-Borchak Williams in January 2020 for a shoplifting incident that had taken place two years earlier. Even though Williams had nothing to do with the incident, facial recognition technology used by Michigan State Police "matched" his face with a grainy image obtained from an in-store surveillance video showing another African-American man taking US$3,800 worth of watches. Two weeks later, the case was dismissed at the prosecution's request. However, relying on the faulty match, police had already handcuffed and arrested Williams in front of his family, forced him to provide a mug shot, fingerprints and a sample of his DNA, interrogated him and imprisoned him overnight. Experts suggest that Williams is not alone, and that others have been subjected to similar injustices.