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Facial recognition technology has become increasingly widespread in recent years, with tech companies, retailers and law enforcement agencies using it for a variety of purposes. One company, Clearview AI, has sparked controversy with its powerful facial recognition tool that claims to have amassed a database of more than 20 billion images culled from public websites and social media. What are the real costs behind offering this kind of groundbreaking but invasive software?
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Background of Clearview AI
Founded in 2017 by Hoan Ton-That and Richard Schwartz, Clearview AI burst onto the scene with an advanced facial recognition tool that allows users to upload a photo of a person, which then searches their database for public photos of that person, along with links to the websites they come from. Their technology can do this even if the photo is low resolution or taken from an odd angle.
Law enforcement agencies and other organizations saw great value in this, potentially allowing researchers to identify suspects, witnesses, victims and other persons of interest with an unprecedented level of accuracy compared to previous facial recognition systems. However, Clearview’s database and its methods of scraping photos without consent raised major privacy concerns.
Clearview AI costs
Pricing structure for law enforcement and government agencies
For law enforcement agencies and other government organizations, Clearview AI charges on a subscription basis, with cheaper rates for smaller police departments and agencies that sign longer contracts. Their website lists the following price levels:
- Maximum 10 users: $2,400 per user per year
- Maximum 50 users: $1,800 per user per year
- Annual contracts longer than 2 years: Additional 20% discount
So for an agency signing a two-year contract for ten users, the total would be approximately €38,400 for the entire period, or €19,200 per year. Larger contracts can reach totals in excess of $500,000.
The FBI signed a one-year, $18,000 contract with Clearview AI for 30 users, which equates to $600 per user license. A purchase order shows that the Minneapolis Police Department paid a total of $11,045 for 15 licenses in 2020, about $736 per user.
Enterprise solutions for retailers and private companies
Although Clearview AI said it would no longer provide facial recognition services to the majority of private companies following public scrutiny, it appears to still provide solutions for security, loss prevention and other anti-theft purposes to major corporate retailers and chains.
Pricing data remains vague and is customized to each customer’s needs, but based on the value provided by allowing stores to identify shoplifters, repeat offenders, and organized retail crime gangs, costs likely range from tens of thousands of dollars to more than $1 million for large companies. national implementations. Support, maintenance, data storage fees and professional services may incur additional ongoing costs.
Integration with wearable AR glasses
Building on the growing excitement around augmented reality hardware, Clearview AI made waves in early 2023 by showcasing a prototype integration with AR glasses that allows wearers to identify people in their field of view in real time.
The company said this tool would only be available for law enforcement and security applications and not for general consumer use. The smart glasses model they used for concepts and demos, the JEDI glasses made by virtual reality vendor JEDI, retails for $999.
On top of the $999 hardware cost, there would certainly be additional costs to install Clearview’s software and enable facial recognition capabilities. Given the above enterprise price estimates for retailers, the cost to install AR glasses with facial recognition could easily exceed $5,000 per unit, including the Clearview subscription cost scaled for the use case.
Also read: The New York Times AI lawsuit
Ongoing controversy and legal challenges
Despite interest from both public and private sector customers, Clearview AI continues to face significant legal and ethical issues surrounding its product. Multiple lawsuits accuse the company of violating privacy rights by taking photos of people online without permission to build the database.
Some critics are calling for stricter regulations that would completely ban government use of facial recognition, while others want decisions surrounding the controversial technology to be made democratically rather than unilaterally by police forces. Lawmakers are also concerned that the technology could disproportionately target marginalized communities and people of color.
These challenges raise questions about whether Clearview AI’s customers will get their money’s worth if future court decisions or laws force significant changes to the database and tool. But the company continues as one of the leaders in facial recognition, which is now valued at over $2 billion following its latest round of funding.
So while precise numbers remain somewhat elusive to the public, estimates suggest that Clearview AI charges fees ranging from a few thousand dollars to millions, depending on the customer, number of users and intended applications. But unprecedented possibilities come with unprecedented concerns about privacy and ethical implementation. The future remains uncertain for this controversial and fascinating player in advanced identification technology.
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