Use of Garda body cameras will be 'ineffective and inherently flawed'
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The proposed use by gardaí of facial recognition technology (FRT) runs the risk of deploying a technology that is “ineffective, inherently flawed, and proven to be discriminatory”, an Oireachtas committee will hear on Tuesday.
Dr Abeba Birhane, an assistant professor specialising in artificial intelligence at Trinity College’s school of computer science, will tell the justice committee that FRT, far from being a cost-effective crime-solving tool, has instead proven to be “ineffective and intrusive”.
The committee will scrutinise the draft Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) (Amendment) bill, which serves to add the use of FRT to agreed legislation for the introduction of Garda body cameras as standard in Ireland.
Dr Birhane will tell the committee FRT remains “deeply flawed”, in part due to its tendency to misidentify people of colour.
“So far, in the US alone, we know of six people that have wrongfully been arrested due to errors in FRT, five of whom are black men and a black woman,” she will tell the committee.
A recent analysis of the use of FRT in Wales between 2016 and 2023 saw just three arrests made after 509,000 faces had been scanned, with more than 3,000 people wrongly identified, according to Dr Birhane
“If Ireland goes ahead with this technology, it is a matter of time before it becomes another cautionary international headline,” Dr Birhane is expected to say.
Dr Birhane is one of five academic experts the committee will hear from, together with representatives from the Data Protection Commission, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, and An Garda Síochána, among others.
The Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is expected to tell the committee that in order to “vindicate the human rights of citizens in a digital society, An Garda Síochána must have access to modern digital image analysis and recognition tools”.
He will say the use of FRT or other digital or AI technologies act “only as a support for decisions taken by gardaí”, adding “there is no question of autonomous machine decision making, ever”.
“All decisions that can impact on a person are only taken by identifiable and accountable personnel,” he will say.
The Data Protection Commission will, meanwhile, tell the committee that while it “acknowledges the potential of facial recognition technology to benefit the work” of gardaí, nevertheless “this technology presents serious risks to the individual’s right to data protection”.
As such, the legislation must ensure that “any deployment of facial recognition technology by An Garda Síochána is strictly necessary and proportionate" the DPC will say.
The ICCL and Digital Rights Ireland, meanwhile, will call on the committee to “urge” the Government to reconsider the FRT proposal, citing the technology as having “clearly demonstrated deeply inherent racial and gender biases”.
