IBM exits facial recognition business, calls for police reform

In a letter to the United States Congress, International BusinessMachines Corp. disclosed Monday it will no longer offerfacial recognition or analysis software. The company is insteadcalling for new efforts to pursue justice and racial equity, new chief executive officer Arvind Krishna said.

The company will stop offering facial recognition softwareand opposes any use of such technology for purposes of masssurveillance and racial profiling, said Krishna, who also calledfor new federal rules to hold police more accountable formisconduct.

IBM did not explain the timing of its decision to exitfacial recognition development, but Krishna told lawmakers "nowis the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and howfacial recognition technology should be employed by domestic lawenforcement agencies."

The announcement came as the United States grapples withnationwide protests over the death of a Black man, George Floyd, in police custody in Minneapolis, and rising calls for policereform.

"IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of anytechnology, including facial recognition technology offered byother vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling,violations of basic human rights and freedoms," Krishna wrote,adding "technology can increase transparency and help policeprotect communities but must not promote discrimination orracial injustice."

Government officials across the country have proposedreforms to address police brutality and racial injustice aimed at boosting oversight of law enforcement agencies.

Krishna, the key architect of IBM's $34 billion US acquisition of software company Red Hat last year, took over the chief executive role inApril.

Facial recognition not significant revenue source

CNBC reported IBM's facial recognition business did notgenerate significant revenue. A person familiar with the mattertold Reuters the facial recognition product decisions were madeover a period of months. The company will no longer market, sellor update the products but will support clients as needed, theperson added.

IBM is no longer developing, creating, researching orselling facial recognition products in application programminginterface or any other form. IBM's visual technology will belimited only to visual object detection, not for facial analysisand identification, the person added.