“Coded Bias” Documentary Review
“Coded Bias” is a documentary released in 2020. This documentary analyzes the biases and controversies in artificial intelligence, specifically facial recognition systems. “Coded Bias” looks into different dilemmas in facial recognition, including federal use of these systems and gender and racial bias.
One thing I learned from this documentary is the fact that facial recognition systems learn by the data that is imputed in it. It surprised me the lack of the diversity within data sets. Most of the stock photos these systems learn from are white men. This creates a bias as women or people of color are not recognized as accurately. This not only has an effect in police investigations or criminal trials, but also in places like the workplace, where some companies are moving toward taking away key fobs and replacing them with facial recognition.
One thing I found interesting was how inaccurate facial recognition can be, especially with women or people of color. It surprised me how much other countries rely on this technology for criminal investigations. It really surprised me that it is abused legally to help identify protesters. There are places where you don’t even know you are being watched, and this is legal in some places? Someone could be learning everything about you without you being aware of it. This is scary to me. I wonder what the future will hold for facial recognition as software becomes more advanced everyday.