Rite Aid hit with five-year facial recognition ban over ‘reckless’ use
VergeDEC 28 2023
Rite Aid’s settlement is yet another example of how AI is riddled with structural racism, just like society at large is. Rite Aid’s facial recognition software produced thousands of false positives, mostly by misidentifying people of color, putting marginalized groups at further risk. This issue isn't exclusive to the pharmacy, as countless studies show that AI has a racial bias and is discriminatory. AI needs an overhaul to prevent such practices before it can be a prominent part of society.
While AI may be a novel development that brings new issues to the forefront, it can't escape America’s favorite pastime: complaining about racism. Despite racism being legally and morally weeded out of the West, the mainstream media loves to play up any instance of perceived bias. The left has been brainwashed into thinking that group differences don’t exist and that any unequal outcomes are purely caused by social factors. AI doesn’t buy this woke falsehood yet, which is why it's falsely dubbed “racist.”