Dr Agnė Limantė, a researcher at the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, together with Yuliia Moskvytyn, an intern, published a column on the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) in wartime on the Ukrainian legal news website "Yur-Gazeta.com". Yuliia, a native of Lviv (Ukraine) and currently studying at Mykolas Romeris University, is doing her internship at the Institute under the UPinLT programme, which finances internships for foreign students in Lithuania.

In a Ukrainian-language commentary, the authors first of all emphasised that this technology has shown incredible results since the first months of the war. "It has influenced the course of military operations and changed their dynamics", the authors said. The data collected suggests that the use of AI-based facial recognition technology has contributed to some 120,000 criminal trials of Russians and their accomplices in Ukraine.

However, according to the authors, the use of this technology also poses a number of risks. The article discusses possible errors in identification, the uncontrolled expansion of the use of FRT, unauthorised use of the technology and aspects of its integration into weapon systems. It also raises the issue of the storage of the large amount of confidential data accumulated by the technology, and the potential for breaches of personal privacy, for example when collecting data from social networks. "During the war years," the authors write, "databases were significantly expanded with photographs of living and dead persons, which in itself raises many ethical debates". Finally, it considers how the infrastructure and skills developed through facial recognition technology will affect everyday life after the war - improved public safety or reduced freedom?

According to the authors of the commentary, while facial recognition technology is having a significant impact on military operations in Ukraine, its risks cannot be ignored. In order to mitigate the risks, the results provided by the technology should not be the only basis for accusing a person. Clear rules for the use of facial recognition technology should also be drawn up, data protection should be ensured, the level of training of operators should be raised and transparent control mechanisms should be developed. This, in the authors' view, would help to reduce potential threats while maintaining the advantages of this innovative technology.

The commentary of the representatives of the Law Institute "Facial recognition technology: risks of use in war" in Ukrainian can be found here.