STPP Managing Director Molly Kleinman was recently interviewed by Michigan Public regarding the use of facial recognition in schools to identify and verify visitors.
Kleinman argued that facial recognition brings an element of surveillance into schools without the technology being entirely accurate. She also said the technology is mostly trained on white adult male faces, and doesn't work as well on individuals who are gender nonconforming, people with disabilities, and people of color.
Kleinman advised schools should instead focus on investing in larger-scale, social- and human-based solutions, such as more staffing and support systems.
"I understand that people are concerned about school safety and school security," Kleinman said. "But this is trying to use a simple technical fix for really a much more complicated social problem."
Read the research report published by Kleinman and her colleagues on this issue.
Read the story in Michigan Public.
