The decision comes as part of "a company-wide move to limit the use of facial recognition in our products," Jerome Pesenti, Facebook's VP of Artificial Intelligence, said on Tuesday. When the feature is discontinued, sometime "in the coming weeks," more than a billion Facebook users who have opted in will have their facial recognition templates deleted and they will not be automatically recognized, Pesenti explained. "Looking ahead, we still see facial recognition technology as a powerful tool, for example, for people needing to verify their identity, or to prevent fraud and impersonation," Pesenti wrote, but noted also that "the many specific instances where facial recognition can be helpful need to be weighed against growing concerns about the use of this technology as a whole." Authorities around the world are still working to provide clear rules on the use of the technology, and Facebook is committed to "working with the civil society groups and regulators who are leading this discussion," the executive added. Back in August, South Korean regulators fined Facebook for presuming consent to the feature for 200,000 users and not letting them opt out of face recognition.