remote biometric identification
In plain wordsUsing AI to recognize people at a distance — usually by matching faces in camera footage against a database — without their taking part. The EU strictly limits live police use of it in public places.
Under the EU AI ActEU AI Act, prop. n.: The European Union's law on artificial intelligence, the first broad AI law anywhere: it bans some uses, sets strict checks for risky ones and puts duties on the makers of the biggest AI models., picking out who people are from afar and without their cooperation, by matching biometric data, most often faces captured on camera, against a stored reference database. In 'real-time' systems the capture, matching and identification happen with no significant delay; 'post' systems work on footage after the event. Live use in publicly accessible spaces for law enforcement is a prohibited practiceprohibited AI practices, n.: Uses of AI that the EU bans outright as too harmful — such as manipulating people, social scoring, and most live facial recognition by police in public places. except where strictly necessary for one of three purposes: looking for particular victims of kidnapping, human trafficking or sexual exploitation, or for missing people; averting a concrete, serious and imminent threat to life or a real threat of terrorist attack; or tracking down people suspected of listed serious crimes. Even then national law must permit it, each use needs prior authorization from a judicial or independent administrative authority, and the police must first complete a fundamental rights impact assessmentfundamental rights impact assessment, n.: A check that certain organizations must make before using a high-risk AI system, writing down whose rights it could affect, how, and what they will do to prevent harm. and register the system. Other remote biometric identification is high-riskhigh-risk AI system, n.: Under EU law, an AI system used where mistakes could seriously hurt people's safety or rights — in hiring, schooling, loans, policing, borders or products like medical devices — and which must therefore pass strict checks., and post-remote use by police requires authorization.
Matching shoppers' faces against a watch list is remote biometric identification even when the store, not the police, runs it.
Origin
Defined in the Commission's April 2021 AI Act proposal. The scope of police exceptions was the most contested issue in the December 2023 political agreement, with the European Parliament seeking a near-total ban on real-time use.
Usage note
Excludes biometric verification, the one-to-one matching used to unlock a phone or pass a gate. The serious crimes are those listed in Annex II and punishable by at least four years' imprisonment. Non-police uses, as by retailers, are not banned but are high-risk and constrained by the General Data Protection RegulationGeneral Data Protection Regulation, prop. n.: The European Union's main privacy law, in force since 2018, which controls how personal information is collected and used — including to train and run AI systems..
Related
- facial recognitionfacial recognition, n.: Technology that identifies or checks who someone is by comparing a picture of their face with stored photos, used by phones, passport gates and police databases.
- biometric categorisationbiometric categorisation, n.: Using AI to sort people into groups — by age, sex, ethnicity and the like — from their faces, voices or other body features. The EU bans using it to guess sensitive traits such as religion or sexuality.
- prohibited AI practicesprohibited AI practices, n.: Uses of AI that the EU bans outright as too harmful — such as manipulating people, social scoring, and most live facial recognition by police in public places.
- AI surveillanceAI surveillance, n.: Using AI to watch, identify, track or profile people on a scale no team of humans could manage, for example by scanning camera feeds or analyzing phone and online data.
- high-risk AI systemhigh-risk AI system, n.: Under EU law, an AI system used where mistakes could seriously hurt people's safety or rights — in hiring, schooling, loans, policing, borders or products like medical devices — and which must therefore pass strict checks.
- human oversighthuman oversight, n.: Keeping people able to watch, understand, question and, if necessary, stop or overrule an AI system, rather than letting it act unchecked.
Defined in law or standards
EU AI Act (Reg. (EU) 2024/1689), Art. 3(41)–(43) and Recital 17; prohibition and safeguards Art. 5(1)(h) and 5(2)–(7); high-risk Annex III point 1(a); post-remote use Art. 26(10)
Mentioned in
facial recognitionfacial recognition, n.: Technology that identifies or checks who someone is by comparing a picture of their face with stored photos, used by phones, passport gates and police databases., AI surveillanceAI surveillance, n.: Using AI to watch, identify, track or profile people on a scale no team of humans could manage, for example by scanning camera feeds or analyzing phone and online data., biometric databiometric data, n.: Information about your body or behavior — your face, fingerprints, voice, eyes or the way you walk — measured by technology and used to recognize who you are or to guess things about you., face detectionface detection, n.: Finding where the faces are in a photo or video, without working out whose faces they are: the step that lets a camera focus on people or blur them out., prohibited AI practicesprohibited AI practices, n.: Uses of AI that the EU bans outright as too harmful — such as manipulating people, social scoring, and most live facial recognition by police in public places., biometric categorisationbiometric categorisation, n.: Using AI to sort people into groups — by age, sex, ethnicity and the like — from their faces, voices or other body features. The EU bans using it to guess sensitive traits such as religion or sexuality., Clearview AIClearview AI, prop. n.: A US company that collected billions of photos from the internet without permission to build a face-search tool for police, the best-known example of controversial facial recognition.