Before talking to Facephi, I hadn’t thought of the context of ethics in biometrics (and digital customer onboarding where biometrics is used).
What exactly do ethics and inclusivity mean in the context of biometrics?
We all know that with the development of digital channels, the pressure for financial organizations to streamline their onboarding processes and improve customer experiences is mounting, and the usage of biometric verification methods will only be spread. Because of that, we started hearing voices about the necessity of the creation of ethical guidelines for the responsible use of biometric data, and AI technology.
Today, together with Javier Barrachina Gimenez and Wiktor Jaszczak from Facephi, we conducted a webinar to discuss all those topics.
During his presentation, Javier mentioned that 63% of Americans want regulation to prevent super-intelligent AI.
If we look at the EU countries, an AI Act is coming into force in 2024, bringing the following regulations to the market:
“AI must be safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory environmentally friendly. Should be overseen by people, rather than by automation, to prevent harmful outcome”.
- Transparency. It means communicating with people about what data is collected; what data will be used for; with whom the data will be shared; and for how long the data will be retained.
- Fairness. As Javier mentioned it’s “Imitate humans without reproducing bias”.
- Accountability. Biometric technology developers and end-users need to work together to develop and provide training to the individuals operating the biometric systems.
- Security: It’s about “Protecting people and the environment”.
Ethical onboarding should include two important steps:
1 – Take into account the benefits of the particular user, and the user should give their consent.
2 – Reduce the racial, ethnic, gender, age, or status impact.
Inclusivity means UX and accessibility. UX – how convenient the technology is, for example, for aged people, who are not digital savvy, or for people with disabilities. Accessibility is about creation of the technology that is accessible to everybody, for example, can work on all devices, not only on the latest powerful smartphones.
As Wiktor mentioned afterward, in the CEE region, the main concerns about the usage of biometrics are related to data privacy and possible misuse of biometrics data. And, recently, of course, the rise of AI, spoofing attacks, and deepfakes, so the banks should take measures to protect their customers from different types of attacks. How can banks do it? Implement respective technology, which, among others, Facephi provides globally.
Watch the webinar recording to get more details:
