NEC, Ideal Innovations Launch Facial Recognition Training Program for Forensic Investigators

NEC has partnered with Ideal Innovations Inc. (I³) to launch a specialized training program dedicated to the use of its sophisticated facial recognition technology.

Based in Arlington County, Virginia, I³ is a veteran-owned firm specializing in biometrics, forensics, and technical services. The firm prides itself on its subject matter expertise, and says it staffs the greatest number of contractors to the Defense Forensic Science Center (DFSC) Biometrics Operations Division (BOD) in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

As such, I³ is well suited to unpacking NEC’s renowned facial recognition technology, which has seen high-level applications on the part of major government agencies and private entities around the world. The newly-launched I³ Face Center of Excellence (FaCE) is primarily meant for forensic examiners, and will offer training services aligned with NEC Group’s AI and Human Rights principles.

Those principles, announced in early 2019, include commitments to fairness, privacy, transparency, a responsibility to explain, the proper utilization of AI tools, talent development, and dialogue with multiple stakeholders. As NEC explained when announcing those principles, “respect for human rights is of preeminent concern.”

“We are incredibly excited to offer our NeoFace customers the opportunity to enhance their skills and knowledge in the responsible use of face recognition technology through our collaboration with the I³ FI training,” said NEC Senior Product Manager John Dowden.

The training program’s launch arrives at a time of concern and scrutiny over facial recognition technology, which has been a point of contention among negotiators hammering out the European Union’s proposed AI Act. The emergence of an ethically-focused training program led by one of the field’s technological leaders may help to assuage some of those concerns.

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November 15, 2023 – by Alex Perala