Clearview revealed this in a Reuters Exclusive.

Clearview AI, the controversial facial recognition company that calls itself the world’s largest facial network, is helping to uncover Russian assailants, combat misinformation and identify the dead in war-torn Ukraine. (Reuters Exclusive)

The Ukraine defense ministry has deployed Clearview’s facial recognition technology and is getting free access to the company’s search engine to identify faces, including of people presenting at checkpoints, representatives told Reuters.

Clearview is one among many Western businesses offering support to Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. Reuters saw a copy of a letter written by Clearview Chief Executive Hoan Ton-That Kyiv offering assistance to Kyiv. Further, the company confirmed that it did not offer its AI technology to Russia.

Identifying the dead and reuniting families

Working from a database of over 10 billion photos, including more than 2 billion images from the Russian social media service VKontakte, Clearview’s technology will identify the dead, as well as pinpoint Russian operatives.

In his letter, Ton-That also offered to use the technology to help reunite refugees with families and to counter the menace of misinformation about the war being spread in social media.

Precautions regarding misuse

According to the company, Ukrainian users are being trained in the use of its technology and are required to feed in a reason for the search as well as a case number.

However, Ton-That said to Reuters that users should not rely on Clearview’s outputs as the sole mode of identification, nor should they apply it in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project in New York, said that “once you introduce these systems and the associated databases to a war zone, you have no control over how it will be used and misused.”

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