Facial recognition search engine PimEyes has banned photo searches for children over safety concerns

PimEyes, a public search engine using facial recognition, has blocked the ability to search for images of minors due to risks to children.

Here's What We Know

PimEyes' new detection system uses artificial intelligence to recognise a person's age. For now, it is still in the development phase.

Journalists have tested the feature and found that it struggles to identify children photographed from a certain angle. The AI also does not always accurately identify teenagers.

According to Giorgi Gobronidze, head of PimEyes, he planned to introduce such protection back in 2021. However, the full-fledged ban only came into effect after the publication of a critical article in the New York Times.

Now PimEyes will block the faces of children in photos for ordinary users, but will allow human rights organisations to search.

The publication previously wrote about 200 accounts blocked for inappropriate searches of minors. One parent said she used PimEyes to find photos of her children she had never seen before. The mother had to pay $29.99 a month to find out the origin of the pictures.

Source: New York Times