Whittaker confirmed that Signal uses a small on-device model for face blur feature in their media editing toolset, which she considers a good use of AI. However, she cautioned that the economic incentives driving the development and deployment of facial recognition technology would not allow this to be its only use.
Key takeaways:
- Signal president Meredith Whittaker argues that AI is a surveillance technology, inseparable from the big data and targeting industry, and is used to entrench and expand the surveillance business model.
- Whittaker points out that the data underlying these AI systems is often organized and annotated by the very workers who can be targeted by these systems, highlighting the exploitative nature of the process.
- She also notes that not all AI and machine learning systems are exploitative, citing Signal's use of an on-device model for face blur feature in their media editing toolset.
- However, Whittaker warns that the economic incentives driving the development and deployment of facial recognition technology would never allow such benign uses to be the only application of the technology.