On January 15, 2020 AI Now Co-Founder Meredith Whittaker provided testimony to the US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on Facial Recognition Technology (Part III): Ensuring Commercial Transparency and Accuracy”. She told the Committee:

“It is time to halt the use of facial recognition in sensitive social and political contexts, by both government and private actors. Facial recognition poses an existential threat to democracy and liberty, and fundamentally shifts the balance of power between those using facial recognition and the populations on whom it’s applied. This is true both in government and commercial contexts. While auditing standards and transparency are necessary to answer fundamental questions, they will not address these harms. It is urgent that lawmakers act to halt the use of facial recognition in sensitive social and political domains until the risks are fully studied and adequate regulations that center the communities most affected are in place.”

Read her full testimony here.

Watch the testimony below: