Watch: Artificial intelligence and the bias against dark skin

“It puts us in danger...," says Damon Hewitt, head of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

The fast-moving artificial intelligence (AI) industry has the civil rights community urging for caution. At issue are facial recognition programs within AI that do not recognize dark-skinned Black people. 

Damon Hewitt, head of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told theGrio that it could lead to bias within law enforcement agencies using technology that does not adequately recognize brown or dark skin.

“The facial recognition technology is typically not normed or tested against people with darker skin tones,” said Hewitt. “It puts us in danger of being falsely accused,” something Hewitt says is an age-old problem for Black Americans.

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