The UK government has failed to deploy an updated version of an 鈥渆ffectively racist鈥� face analysis algorithm used for checking passport pictures, despite knowing it works poorly for some black people. The improved version has been available for more than a year.
New Scientist revealed in 2019 that the Home Office had deployed a face-detection system for its passport photo-checking service despite being aware it worked badly with very light and very dark skin.
The passport office it had talked to the software鈥檚 vendor, which had amended the tool, and it could be deployed after testing by the vendor and the Home Office.
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However, more than a year on, the passport office confirmed it has still not applied the fix, leaving individuals from some ethnic minorities facing obstacles to an essential service. 鈥淗er Majesty鈥檚 Passport Office can confirm that we have not deployed the updated software,鈥� the agency told New Scientist this month in response to a freedom of information request.
Since the service went live in June 2016, some black users of the service have reported being told their photo didn鈥檛 meet requirements after it mistook lips for an open mouth and suggested people had their eyes closed when they were open. The passport office said in October 2019 that it was working to make the experience of uploading a digital photograph simple 鈥渇or all of our customers鈥�.
Noel Sharkey at the University of Sheffield, UK, says the issue was shocking 18 months ago but seems even worse now it has persisted for so long. 鈥淲hat I find most alarming is that the software company produced a solution more than a year ago and it has not been used. It leaves open the question as to why the Home Office is still using this effectively racist algorithm.鈥�
New Scientist听understands the covid-19 pandemic has affected work on updating the software.
Such bias in algorithms can be introduced if they are trained on an insufficiently diverse set of data. 鈥淪oftware tends to fail for minority groups because the people developing it, and the people incentivising and authorising it in turn, do not take the needs of those groups seriously,鈥� says Os Keyes at the University of Washington, Seattle. 鈥淲hy has the patch to treat people of colour as people not been applied? Because the Home Office doesn鈥檛 prioritise [people of colour].鈥�
Sam Smith of campaign group MedConfidential, who unearthed documents showing the UK government knew about the software鈥檚 problems before deployment, says: 鈥淓very day the Home Office doesn鈥檛 use the improved software, is another day that the Home Office actively chooses to run a service for British citizens which discriminates based solely on the colour of their skin.鈥�
A Home Office spokesperson says: 鈥淲e are determined to make the experience of uploading a digital photograph as simple as possible, and continue to work hard with our supplier to identify ways听to improve this process for all of our customers.鈥�
