This paper examines FRT as the first use case under NITI Aayog’s RAI principles and aims to establish a framework for responsible and safe development and deployment of FRT within India. 

• FRT is an AI system which allows identification or verification of a person based on certain images or video data using complex algorithms.

Working of FRT

• FRT primarily seeks to accomplish three functions - 
  • Facial detection which relies on algorithms to detect presence of human face.
  • Facial extraction which uses mathematical representations to identify distinctive features on individual faces.
  • Facial recognition which involves automatic cross-referencing of a person’s facial features with pre-existing database. 

Applications of FRT

• Security Related: Law and order enforcement (surveillance, identification of persons of interest, monitoring of crowd, screening for violation of public norms).
• Non-Security related: 
  • Ease of access in services (e.g. contactless onboarding at airports through Digi Yatra).
  • Ease in usability such as unique IDs in educational institutions etc.
  • Authentication for access to products, services, and public benefits.

Risks with FRT systems

• Design-based risks: Automation bias, discrimination, lack of accountability, misidentification/inaccuracy due to under-representations in databases.
• Rights-based issues: Privacy and lack of consent, informational autonomy, and processing of sensitive personal data etc.