NIST Study Finds Widespread Racial and Gender Bias in 189 Facial Recognition Algorithms
Incident Details
Summary
In December 2019, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published the Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT), evaluating 189 commercial facial recognition algorithms from 99 developers. The study found that most algorithms showed significantly higher false positive rates for African-American and Asian faces compared to white faces — in some cases 10 to 100 times higher error rates. The study also found higher error rates for women, elderly, and children. Despite being published in 2019, the findings were widely cited through 2020-2022 as law enforcement agencies expanded FRT use. The research provided the empirical foundation for the string of wrongful arrests of Black men documented 2020-2023.
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