Angela Lipps, a 50-year-old grandmother from Tennessee, faced a harrowing ordeal after being wrongfully imprisoned for over five months. This case highlights the potential dangers of AI facial recognition technology, as Clearview AI mistakenly identified her as a suspect in a bank fraud case occurring over 1,000 miles away in North Dakota.
On July 14, while caring for four children, Lipps was arrested based on a warrant issued after a match was made by Clearview AI's facial recognition system. Fargo police chief Dave Zibolski acknowledged to news outlets that there were "a couple of errors" in the investigation that led to Lipps' wrongful arrest. He explained that a partner agency’s facial recognition technology, along with additional investigative steps that were independent of AI, contributed to the decision to issue the warrant.
Lipps was detained in a Tennessee county jail for 108 days before being extradited to Fargo. She claimed to have never visited North Dakota prior to her arrest. According to her GoFundMe page, the fraudulent activity involved a woman in North Dakota who had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from banks in Fargo using a fake military ID. Clearview AI had matched the image on the fake ID with Lipps, leading to her wrongful identification.
The situation took a turn when the case against Lipps unraveled in December. The lawyer assigned to her in Fargo presented bank records that proved Lipps was in Tennessee, ordering pizza and visiting a gas station at the time authorities claimed she was committing bank fraud in North Dakota. This evidence was pivotal in demonstrating her innocence.
On Christmas Eve, after nearly five months of unjust imprisonment, Lipps was finally released. The emotional and financial toll of her wrongful incarceration was severe; she lost her home, income, car, and health insurance during this period.
What is Clearview AI?
Clearview AI is a controversial technology firm that has faced numerous criticisms for its practices. The company has built vast databases of facial scans by scraping images from social media platforms and various online sources, which it then uses to train its machine learning algorithms.
In 2020, Facebook issued a cease and desist order to Clearview AI over its mass scraping of photographs, a move that was echoed by other tech giants including YouTube, Twitter, and Venmo. Clearview AI has maintained that it possesses a "First Amendment right" to utilize this data.
In 2022, following legal action from the ACLU, Clearview AI agreed to cease selling access to its technology to private entities. However, this settlement did not prohibit the company from continuing its collaborations with law enforcement agencies.
While the Fargo police have admitted to mistakes made during the investigation, there has yet to be an official apology extended to Lipps for her distressing experience. Currently, Lipps' attorneys are considering the possibility of filing a civil rights claim on her behalf, seeking justice for the wrongful actions taken against her.
Source: Mashable News