Connect with us

Tech

AI facial recognition led to a grandma being wrongly jailed

Published

on

Clearview AI logo

Angela Lipps, a 50-year-old grandma from Tennessee, spent more than five months in jail after the AI facial recognition platform Clearview AI falsely matched the grandmother with a suspect of bank fraud more than 1,000 miles away in North Dakota.

Fargo police chief Dave Zibolski admitted to CNN that there were a "couple of errors" in the investigation that led to Lipps' arrest.

A "partner agency’s facial recognition technology” and “additional investigative steps independent of AI to assist in identification” led to a warrant being issued for Lipps, Zibolski said.

The grandma was arrested on July 14 while looking after four children. Authorities in Tennessee held Lipps in county jail for 108 days before she was extradited to Fargo. Lipps says she had never even been to the state of North Dakota before her arrest.

According to her GoFundMe page, Lipps found out that a woman in North Dakota stole tens of thousands of dollars from banks in Fargo using a fake military ID. Clearview AI matched the fake ID image with Lipps in Tennessee.

The case against Lipps fell apart in December when the lawyer she was given in Fargo was able to produce bank records showing Lipps was at a gas station and ordering pizza in Tennessee at the time that authorities claimed she was in North Dakota.

Lipps was released on Christmas Eve, after nearly 5 months in prison. Lipps says she lost her home, income, car, and health insurance as a result of her imprisonment.

What is Clearview AI?

Clearview AI is a tech company that has plenty of charges from critics on its rap sheet already. it has created massive facial-scan databases by scraping photos from social media platforms and other places on the internet, then training its machine learning algorithms on them.

In 2020, Facebook sent Clearview AI a cease and desist over the mass photo scraping. Other tech companies like YouTube, Twitter, and Venmo also requested that Clearview AI stop scraping its platforms. Clearview AI claimed it had a "First Amendment right" to the data.

In 2022, a legal settlement with the ACLU resulted in Clearview AI agreeing to stop selling access to its tool to private businesses. However, it did not bar Clearview AI from working with law enforcement.

While Fargo police have admitted to making mistakes in the investigation, authorities have not yet apologized to Lipps for her ordeal. Lipps' attorneys are currently looking at filing a civil rights claim.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tech

This 55-inch Samsung OLED 4K TV is under $900 at Amazon — save $500

Published

on

By

the 55-inch Samsung OLED 4K TV on a pink and orange background

SAVE $500: The 55-inch Samsung OLED 4K S85F Series TV is on sale for $897.99 at Amazon, down from the list price of $1,397.99. That's a 36% discount.



55-inch Samsung OLED 4K S85F Series TV

Credit: Samsung

$897.99
at Amazon

$1,397.99
Save $500

The Amazon Big Spring Sale has come and gone, but Amazon forgot to turn off the discounts on TVs. We're still seeing many models sitting at their sale price two days later, but we're not mad. Baseball season is here, after all, and if you could use an upgrade to watch this year's games, check out this Samsung deal.

As of April 2, the 55-inch Samsung OLED 4K S85F Series TV is on sale at Amazon for $897.99, down from the list price of $1,397.99. That's a 36% discount that takes $500 off the price.

With 4K resolution, dynamic brightness, and excellent contrast, the 55-inch Samsung OLED TV will be a welcomed addition to your home's entertainment setup. Samsung mentions this model uses the brand's NQ4 AI Gen2 processor to ensure each scene has optimal brightness. Samsung also tapped into the color experts at Pantone to make sure skin tones were realistic and accurate.

When it comes to watching sports on the 55-inch Samsung OLED, the 120Hz Motion Xcelerator brings smoothness to quick movements. Plus, Samsung used object tracking sound technology which allows sound to follow objects on screen, giving a more life-like experience.

In addition to today's sale price, Amazon is tossing in free delivery and unpacking service, which usually costs $29.99. This means delivery will come to the room of your choice with unboxing and packaging removal.

Upgrade to the 55-inch Samsung OLED 4K S85F Series TV while it's still sitting at the sale price we saw earlier this week at Amazon's Big Spring Sale sale. You'll be saving $500 that can be used for your favorite streaming services in the future.

Continue Reading

Tech

The PlayStation 6 could ditch the built-in disc drive

Published

on

By

PlayStation logo on white background

The next generation of PlayStation consoles might not appeal to people who enjoy building physical game collections.

A hardware leaker known as KeplerL2 posted in the NeoGAF forums this week (via WCCF Tech), claiming that the still-unconfirmed PlayStation 6 will not have a disc drive built in.

In a reply to another user's inquiry, KeplerL2 also said the base PS6 would come with just 1TB of storage space on its internal SSD. For reference, that's exactly the same as most PS5 models. Typically, specs like that only get better over time, but it seems like Sony might make a lateral move at best for storage capacity this time around.

That's almost certainly because of the AI-driven global RAM shortage, which was recently rumored to potentially cause the PS6 to miss its intended late 2027 launch date. All things being equal, Sony might be inclined to put a 2TB drive in each base PS5, but that might not be feasible right now.

As for the lack of a disc drive, that's going to ruffle feathers for a multitude of reasons.

Yes, the PS5 has had a no-disc-drive variant since its launch in 2020, but Sony also sells a standalone attachable disc drive unit in case users want one. Obviously, Sony could do the same with the PS6, but we don't know that yet. And while a large majority of video game sales happen in digital marketplaces as opposed to physical retail stores, plenty of people still like to own their games, whether it's out of concern for digital storefronts eventually shutting down, or just to build a nice collection of physical media. And, of course, sometimes you get good discounts on used games.

Needless to say, if this is true, it will be controversial.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters today.

Continue Reading

Tech

Moon phase today: What the Moon will look like on April 2

Published

on

By

An image of a full moon.

With the Full Moon now passed, each night the moon will start to look smaller. It won't be noticeable at first, but after a few nights you'll see the moon start to fade from the right side. This will continue until we reach the New Moon, where it will appear completely dark.

Keep reading to see how much of it is visible tonight.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Thursday, April 2, the Moon phase is North America is Waning Gibbous, according to NASA's Daily Moon Guide.

There's plenty to see if you have clear skies tonight. Even without visual aids to assist you, you can see the Kepler Crater, Aristarchus Plateau, and the Mare Tranquillitatis. If you do have assistance, in the form of binoculars, you'll be able to spot more features, including the Posidonius and Endymion Craters. Finally, a telescope will give you many viewing opportunities, with the Apollo 11, Caucasus Mountains, and the Schiller Crater appearing the clearest.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon is predicted to take place on May 1, the first of two in May.

What are Moon phases?

According to NASA, the Moon takes about 29.5 days to circle Earth, moving through eight unique phases along the way. Although we always see the same side from Earth, different amounts of its surface are lit by the Sun as it orbits, causing it to appear fully illuminated, partially lit, or as a thin crescent. These changing views are called the lunar phases, and there are eight altogether:

New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

Continue Reading

Trending