The controversial facial recognition provider has scraped billions of images of people across the web for its system. Understandably, it caught the attention of regulators and rights groups from around the world.

In November 2021, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) imposed a potential fine of just over £17 million on Clearview AI. Today’s announcement suggests Clearview AI got off relatively lightly.

John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner, said:

“Clearview AI Inc has collected multiple images of people all over the world, including in the UK, from a variety of websites and social media platforms, creating a database with more than 20 billion images.

The company not only enables identification of those people, but effectively monitors their behaviour and offers it as a commercial service. That is unacceptable.

That is why we have acted to protect people in the UK by both fining the company and issuing an enforcement notice.”

The enforcement notice requires Clearview AI to delete all facial recognition data.

UK-Australia joint investigation

A joint investigation by the UK’s ICO and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) was first launched in July 2020.

Angelene Falk, Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner, commented:

“The joint investigation with the ICO has been highly valuable and demonstrates the benefits of data protection regulators collaborating to support effective and proactive regulation. 

The issues raised by Clearview AI’s business practices presented novel concerns in a number of jurisdictions. By partnering together, the OAIC and ICO have been able to contribute to an international position, and shape our global regulatory environment.”

Falk concluded that uploading an image to a social media site “does not unambiguously indicate agreement to collection of that image by an unknown third party for commercial purposes”.

The OAIC ordered Clearview AI to destroy the biometric data it collected of Australians.

“People expect that their personal information will be respected, regardless of where in the world their data is being used. That is why global companies need international enforcement. Working with colleagues around the world helped us take this action and protect people from such intrusive activity,” added Edwards.

“This international cooperation is essential to protect people’s privacy rights in 2022. That means working with regulators in other countries, as we did in this case with our Australian colleagues. And it means working with regulators in Europe, which is why I am meeting them in Brussels this week so we can collaborate to tackle global privacy harms.”

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Related: Clearview AI agrees to restrict sales of its faceprint database

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The controversial facial recognition giant has caught the attention of global privacy regulators and campaigners for its practice of scraping personal photos from the web for its system without explicit consent.

Clearview AI is expected to have scraped over 10 billion photos.

“Common law has never recognised a right to privacy for your face,” Clearview AI lawyer Tor Ekeland once argued.

The UK’s ICO launched a joint probe with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) into Cleaview AI’s practices.

Earlier this month, Australia’s Information Commissioner Angelene Falk determined that “the act of uploading an image to a social media site does not unambiguously indicate agreement to collection of that image by an unknown third party for commercial purposes.”

Falk ordered Clearview AI to destroy the biometric data that it collected on Australians and cease further collection.

While we’ve had to wait a bit longer for the UK’s take, this week the ICO decided to impose a potential fine of just over £17 million on Clearview AI. The company must also delete the personal data currently held on British citizens and cease further processing.

Elizabeth Denham, UK Information Commissioner, said:

“I have significant concerns that personal data was processed in a way that nobody in the UK will have expected. It is therefore only right that the ICO alerts people to the scale of this potential breach and the proposed action we’re taking.

UK data protection legislation does not stop the effective use of technology to fight crime, but to enjoy public trust and confidence in their products technology providers must ensure people’s legal protections are respected and complied with.

Clearview AI Inc’s services are no longer being offered in the UK. However, the evidence we’ve gathered and analysed suggests Clearview AI Inc were and may be continuing to process significant volumes of UK people’s information without their knowledge.

We therefore want to assure the UK public that we are considering these alleged breaches and taking them very seriously.”

Leaked documents suggest Clearview AI’s system was tested by UK authorities including the Metropolitan Police, Ministry of Defense, the National Crime Agency, and a number of police constabularies including Surrey, North Yorkshire, Suffolk, and Northamptonshire. However, the system is said to no longer be being used or tested in the UK.

Following the US Capitol raid earlier this year, Clearview AI boasted that police use of its facial recognition system increased 26 percent.

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The facial recognition provider has been the focus of many investigations for its controversial practice of scraping the online data of people without their consent.

The joint investigation, conducted by the ​​UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), found that Clearview AI has scraped the biometric information of at least three billion people.

“Common law has never recognised a right to privacy for your face,” Clearview AI lawyer Tor Ekeland once argued.

In her determination (PDF), Australia’s Information Commissioner Angelene Falk disagrees: “I consider that the act of uploading an image to a social media site does not unambiguously indicate agreement to collection of that image by an unknown third party for commercial purposes.”

“Consent also cannot be implied if individuals are not adequately informed about the implications of providing or withholding consent. This includes ensuring that an individual is properly and clearly informed about how their personal information will be handled, so they can decide whether to give consent.”

The joint investigation concluded that Clearview AI breached the country’s privacy laws by collecting the data of citizens without their consent and failed to notify affected individuals. A form created at the start of 2020 that allowed citizens to opt-out from being searchable on the solution can no longer be used and Australians can now only make such a request via email.

Falk’s office has now ordered Clearview AI to destroy the biometric data that it’s collected on Australians and cease further collection.

“The covert collection of this kind of sensitive information is unreasonably intrusive and unfair,” Falk said.

“It carries significant risk of harm to individuals, including vulnerable groups such as children and victims of crime, whose images can be searched on Clearview AI’s database.”

Increasing regulatory scrutiny

By amassing such a large amount of data, Clearview AI is one of the most powerful facial recognition tools available. The solution has been used by governmental agencies and law enforcement around the world.

Following the Capitol raid earlier this year, Clearview AI boasted that police use of its facial recognition system increased 26 percent.

Regulators are now increasing their scrutiny over Clearview AI’s practices. The UK-Aus investigation began last year and followed a similar probe that was launched by the EU’s privacy watchdog a month prior.

The European Data Protection Board ruled that any use of the service by law enforcement in Europe would “likely not be consistent with the EU data protection regime” and that it “has doubts as to whether any Union or Member State law provides a legal basis for using a service such as the one offered by Clearview AI.”

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The local government area is located in Victoria, Australia, and has an area of 37 square kilometers and a population of around 183,756. Illegal waste dumping in the city is a problem that causes both hygiene and safety problems.

Using Nokia’s Scene Analytics AI technology, the city hopes to gain a deeper understanding of waste disposal behaviour across the area.

Rob Mccabe, Head of Enterprise of Australia and New Zealand at Nokia, said:

“The City of Melbourne is using robust AI technology to offer its citizens, visitors, and businesses a greener and more liveable community.

In helping the City of Melbourne monitor and enhance services with real-time driven actions, Nokia Scene Analytics is supporting the safety, security and operational continuity of this city in a proactive and automated way.”

An existing network of cameras is being used as IoT sensors to monitor waste compactors. Nokia’s AI is used to filter and collate data from the cameras – combining it with other data, including from the compactor itself – to create real-time alerts and produce reports.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp, City of Melbourne, commented:

“This is a great example of using new technology to help remove illegal waste more quickly, make our city cleaner, and protect the environment.

Our partnership with Nokia is another way we are gathering data to make Melbourne a safer, smarter, and more sustainable city.

This innovative project will help to avoid hazards and make our streets even cleaner by allowing our waste services to better understand behavior trends related to the illegal and dangerous dumping of waste.”  

A virtual “tripwire” allows for real-time monitoring of compactors. Object detection and counting were used to determine the items being placed in the compactor and their impact on it. This data can be used to help predict when compactors may require maintenance in order to minimise downtime.

During the trial, all faces and license plates were blurred to maintain the privacy of individuals.

(Image Credit: City of Melbourne)

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Ryan Abbott, a professor at University of Surrey, has launched over a dozen patent applications around the world – including in the UK, US, New Zealand, and Australia – on behalf of US-based Dr Stephen Thaler.

The twist here is that it’s not Thaler which Abbott is attempting to credit as an inventor, but rather his AI device known as DABUS.

“In my view, an inventor as recognised under the act can be an artificial intelligence system or device,” said justice Jonathan Beach, overturning Australia’s original verdict. “We are both created and create. Why cannot our own creations also create?”

DABUS consists of neural networks and was used to invent an emergency warning light, a food container that improves grip and heat transfer, and more.

Until now, all of the patent applications were rejected—including in Australia. Each country determined that a human must be the credited inventor.

Whether AIs should be afforded certain “rights” similar to humans is a key debate, and one that is increasingly in need of answers. This patent case could be the first step towards establishing when machines – with increasing forms of sentience – should be treated like humans.

DABUS was awarded its first patent for “a food container based on fractal geometry,” by South Africa’s Companies and Intellectual Property Commission on June 24.

Following the patent award, Professor Adrian Hilton, Director of the Institute for People-Centred AI at the University of Surrey, commented:

“This is a truly historic case that recognises the need to change how we attribute invention. We are moving from an age in which invention was the preserve of people to an era where machines are capable of realising the inventive step, unleashing the potential of AI-generated inventions for the benefit of society.

The School of Law at the University of Surrey has taken a leading role in asking important philosophical questions such as whether innovation can only be a human phenomenon, and what happens legally when AI behaves like a person.”

AI News reached out to the patent experts at ACT | The App Association, which represents more than 5,000 app makers and connected device companies around the world, for their perspective.

Brian Scarpelli, Senior Global Policy Counsel at ACT | The App Association, commented:

“The App Association, in alignment with the plain language of patent laws across key jurisdictions (including Australia’s 1990 Patents Act), is opposed to the proposal that a patent may be granted for an invention devised by a machine, rather than by a natural person.

Today’s patent laws can, for certain kinds of AI inventions, appropriately support inventorship. Patent offices can use the existing requirements for software patentability as a starting point to identify necessary elements of patentable AI inventions and applications – for example for AI technology that is used to improve machine capability, where it can be delineated, declared, and evaluated in a way equivalent to software inventions.

But more generally, determinations regarding when and by whom inventorship and authorship, autonomously created by AI, could represent a drastic shift in law and policy. This would have direct implications on policy questions raised about allowing patents on inventions made by machines further public policy goals, and even reaching into broader definitions of AI personhood.

Continued study, both by national/regional patent offices and multilateral fora like the World Intellectual Property Office, is going to be critical and needs to continue to inform a comprehensive debate by policymakers.”

Feel free to let us know in the comments whether you believe AI systems should have similar legal protections and obligations to humans.

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Clearview AI has repeatedly made headlines, and rarely for good reason. The company’s facial recognition technology is impressive but relies on scraping billions of people’s data from across the web.

“Common law has never recognised a right to privacy for your face,” Clearview AI lawyer Tor Ekeland argued recently.

Regulators in the UK and Australia seem to have a different perspective than Ekeland and have announced a joint probe into Clearview AI’s practices.

“The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have opened a joint investigation into the personal information handling practices of Clearview Inc., focusing on the company’s use of ‘scraped’ data and biometrics of individuals,” the ICO wrote in a statement.

“The investigation highlights the importance of enforcement cooperation in protecting the personal information of Australian and UK citizens in a globalized data environment.”

A similar probe was launched by the EU’s privacy watchdog last month.

The European Data Protection Board ruled that any use of the service by law enforcement in Europe would “likely not be consistent with the EU data protection regime” and that it “has doubts as to whether any Union or Member State law provides a legal basis for using a service such as the one offered by Clearview AI.”

Clearview AI’s facial recognition system is used by over 2,200 law enforcement agencies around the world. A recent leak suggests it’s even being used by commercial businesses like Best Buy and Macy’s. In May, Clearview said it would stop working with non–law enforcement entities.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) launched a lawsuit against Clearview AI in May after calling it a “nightmare scenario” for privacy.

Aside from the company’s practices, concerns have been raised about Clearview AI’s extensive ties with the far-right. Ekeland himself has gained notoriety as “The Troll’s Lawyer” for defending clients such as neo-Nazi troll Andrew Auernheimer.

“Companies like Clearview will end privacy as we know it, and must be stopped,” said Nathan Freed Wessler, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.

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Duplex probably needs little introduction as it caused a bit of a stir when it debuted at I/O in late 2018 (when conferences were things you could still physically attend.)

The human-sounding AI could perform actions like calling a business on a person’s behalf and booking in things such as hair appointments or table reservations.

Duplex is undeniably impressive, but it prompted a debate over whether AIs should have to state they’re not human before imitating one. Google has since decided to add disclosures at the beginning of calls and give businesses the option to opt-out of being called by an AI.

Humans haven’t been completely replaced by Duplex. Google says around a quarter of Duplex calls are started by humans, and 15 percent start with an AI but are later intervened by a human if issues arise or the person receiving the call opts not to speak with an AI.

In terms of devices, the rollout of Duplex started on Pixel phones (obviously) before making the slightly odd decision to launch on iOS devices. More Android phones then began joining the party.

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Many of us know how voice services often struggle with even “normal” conversations, despite vast training datasets available. National and regional accents are difficult enough without adding in industry-specific jargon.

However, correctly understanding medical terms could mean life or death. With healthcare set to be one of the industries most revolutionised by AI, understanding the jargon is vital for it to reach its full potential safely.

Several tech giants have existing healthcare partnerships and can use their influence to obtain data in ways that are difficult for smaller competitors. Of course, many of these corporations are known to harvest personal data for their own means.

The researchers, from the Australian Institute of Health Innovation (AIHI) at Macquarie University, are aiming to build an alternative to the AI medical scribing systems being developed by tech giants.

“We need recordings of tens of thousands of conversations between patients and doctors so the AI can learn patterns from the data,” Dr Juan Quiroz, one of the researchers working on the project, told Macquarie’s Lighthouse publication.

“Doctors and clinicians rarely record their consultations,” he added.

Medical practitioners are often overburdened enough, so asking them to record consultations is both invasive and adding more to their daily work. Large financial incentives may help, which is again where the big tech giants hold a significant advantage in addition to their established partnerships.

The majority of the world’s biggest tech companies have some form of AI healthcare initiative. Just last week, AI News reported on Amazon’s announcement of its own Transcribe Medical solution.

Amazon says Transcribe Medical can be deployed across “thousands” of healthcare facilities to provide clinicians with secure note-taking abilities. The solution is covered under AWS’ HIPAA eligibility and business associate addendum (BAA) which means that any customer that enters into a BAA with AWS can process and store personal health information legally.

The researchers have an uphill battle ahead of them against players like Amazon, but it’s hard not to admire their ambition and noble cause.

You can find the AIHI researchers’ full paper published in science journal Nature here.

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