Clearview AI
Facial recognition company that built a large image-scraping database and sold search tools to law enforcement—high-profile for privacy, consent, and accuracy issues.
Background
Clearview AI collects publicly posted photos from the web and social media to train and power a face-search product. Users upload a probe image and get candidate matches from the company’s database. Marketing has focused on police and security customers; the company has drawn lawsuits, regulatory action, and bans in several jurisdictions over data collection and use.
Harms and concerns
Face recognition misidentifies people—especially Black and brown faces—at higher rates in many systems, risking wrongful arrest. Mass scraping of photos without meaningful consent undermines expectations of privacy. Once a face is searchable, it can be used for protest monitoring, immigration enforcement, or stalking if controls fail. Transparency about who is in the database and how long data is kept is often limited.
Products (overview)
- Face search – upload a face to search against Clearview’s index
- Investigation / agency workflows – tools for analysts to follow up on matches
- Compliance / policy variants – offerings vary by region and customer type over time