Home / Crime and Justice / AI Mistake Jails Grandma for 5 Months
AI Mistake Jails Grandma for 5 Months
30 Mar
Summary
- Grandmother imprisoned for over five months due to AI facial recognition error.
- Clearview AI wrongly identified the woman as a bank fraud suspect.
- The woman lost her home, income, car, and health insurance due to the error.
A 50-year-old grandmother from Tennessee experienced a harrowing five-month imprisonment due to a false match from Clearview AI's facial recognition technology. The AI platform incorrectly identified Angela Lipps as a bank fraud suspect located in North Dakota. Fargo police admitted to errors in their investigation, which involved the AI system and other steps. Lipps was arrested in July and held for 108 days before being moved to Fargo, despite never having visited North Dakota. The charges unraveled in December when evidence, including bank records, proved she was in Tennessee at the time of the alleged fraud. She was released on Christmas Eve, having lost her home, job, car, and health insurance. Clearview AI has a history of controversy, including scraping photos from social media, leading to cease and desist orders from tech giants. A 2022 settlement with the ACLU restricted its sales to private businesses but allowed continued work with law enforcement. Authorities have yet to apologize to Lipps, whose attorneys are considering a civil rights claim.
