Clearview AI facial recognition¶
The Clearview AI episode is the first of two separate EPS facial-recognition incidents, confirmed through reporting and a privacy-commissioner finding.
Details¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Status | Confirmed |
| Year(s) | 2019-2020 |
| Cost (CAD) | ~$0 (free trials) |
| Vendor | Clearview AI |
| Source | globalnews-clearview-ai-3-officers |
| Confirmed on hard reporting. Three senior officers used Clearview AI on a single auto-theft case. They had signed themselves up after a 2019 conference on free trials, which is why the cost sits at roughly $0. |
The control failure is the story. EPS only found out about the unauthorized use when the Clearview AI data breach exposed the client list. No internal check caught it. The privacy commissioner found EPS "not forthcoming."
This is a separate episode from the 2025 Axon facial-recognition pilot, and the two must not be run together. Different year, different vendor, different mechanism.
Source¶
See the source clipping: globalnews-clearview-ai-3-officers.