The US Air Force has reportedly developed artificial intelligence-powered facial recognition (FTR) technology for autonomous drones.
The drone is used by special operations personnel for foreign missions, intelligence gathering, and other operations under a contract between the Department of Defense (DoD) and Seattle-based RealNetworks.
“The US Air Force has ended a project to develop facial recognition software for autonomous drones, raising concerns that individuals could be targeted and killed,” New Scientist reported Wednesday.
An $800,000 contract between the Department of Defense and RealNetworks will allow drones to fly autonomously without human assistance, while the software uses machine learning (ML) techniques to recognize faces.
According to RealNetworks, the technology could be used for border security, domestic search, and rescue operations.
Drones will be assigned expeditionary roles, including special operations, “to open up the possibility of real-time autonomous robotics,” the report said.
The US is not the only one that uses facial recognition. The US military is not the only one that uses facial recognition. The UN previously claimed that Libyan forces would equip the drones with weapons and facial recognition software in 2021.
For some time, Dubai Police have been tracking reckless drivers using drones equipped with facial recognition technology.
China has been using FTR for a long time. Meanwhile, US privacy advocates have opposed the use of facial recognition technology by police.
The New York Civil Liberties Union warned against the use of the technology in drones, and the Portland City Council enacted one of the nation’s strictest bans against it.
Government use of facial recognition technology was banned in San Francisco for the first time in 2019; Oakland and Berkeley quickly followed.
Vermont was the first state to ban the government’s use of FRT last year. But government workers can use it in drone footage with permission, and facial recognition software to help fight human trafficking and child sex abuse has been exempted.
Despite the fact that Congress has not yet passed federal regulations on facial recognition technology, there are proposals.
Concerns about targeted killings.
Automated weapons are receiving increasing attention as they become a common part of military hardware. Some military experts say the
Drones remove an important human element from the use of lethal force.
However, there are concerns that this new technology could be used to murder certain people.
According to a New Scientist report, there are serious ethical and legal concerns about the use of facial recognition technology in military drones.
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