Documents obtained by the ABC reveal how the Australian Federal Police made use of Clearview AI — a controversial facial recognition technology that is now the focus of a federal investigation.
Key points:
- Documents show the AFP used the technology as part of a free trial, but no contract was entered into
- The AFP initially denied any ties to Clearview AI, before later confirming officers had accepted a trial
- An email allegedly from the founder of Clearview AI to an AFP officer asked how the program was working
At least one officer tested the software using images of herself and another member of staff as part of a free trial.
In another incident, staff from the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCE) conducted searches for five “persons of interest”.
According to emails released under Freedom of Information laws, one officer used the app on their personal phone, apparently without information security approval.
Based in New York, Clearview AI says it has created a tool that allows users to search faces across a database that contains billions of photos taken, or “scraped”, without consent from platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.