Facial recognition platform Clearview AI has offered its tech to the Ukrainian Government in a bid to uncover Russian infiltrators, fight misinformation and identify the dead.

The company offered the use of its technology – which has come under scrutiny, and even garnered fines from data regulators – for free, detailed in a letter sent to Ukraine’s Government.

Futhermore, the letter purports that Clearview AI has over 2 billion images from Russian social networking site, Vkontakte (VK) – often dubbed the “Facebook of Russia”.

In the letter, Clearview AI Chief Executive, Hoan Ton-That laid out a number of scenarios in which he felt his company’s technology would be beneficial to the Ukrainian Government.

These included identifying infiltrators by matching a photo of them or their ID card; identifying the dead without the need for fingerprints; fighting misinformation and reuniting by identifying people without paperwork.

In a statement given to the BBC, Hoan Ton-That said: “I’m pleased to confirm that Clearview AI has provided its groundbreaking facial recognition technology to Ukrainian officials for their use during the crisis they are facing.”

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In November of last year, The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced its “provisional intent” to impose a £17 million data handling fine on Australia-based Clearview AI, which describes itself as the ‘World’s Largest Facial Network’.

Additionally, the ICO has issued a provisional notice for Clearview AI to halt further UK data processing and to delete it following alleged serious breaches of the UK’s data protection laws.

The announcement followed a joint investigation by the ICO and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) focusing on the use of images by Clearview, data scraped from the internet and the use of facial recognition biometrics.

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