Alibaba file photo

 
 
A facial recognition technology that included ethnicity as an algorithm attribute for tagging video images was developed by Alibaba Cloud in a testing environment, and Alibaba will not permit the technology to be used to identify specific ethnic groups, Alibaba Group said in a statement on Thursday.
 
The statement came soon after some Western media hyped up the company’s so-called “validated 'Uyghur alarms' in facial recognition software meant for police video surveillance projects.”
 
“Racial or ethnic discrimination or profiling in any form violates Alibaba’s policies and values,” read the statement. It said that it is “dismayed” to learn that Alibaba Cloud developed the facial recognition technology in a testing environment.
 
“We never intended our technology to be used for and will not permit it to be used for targeting specific ethnic groups, and we have eliminated any ethnic tags in our product offering,” Alibaba said in the statement.
 
It also noted that the trial technology was not deployed by any of its customers.
 
“We do not and will not permit our technology to be used to target or identify specific ethnic groups.”
 
Global Times