PimEyes facial recognition search engine

PimEyes is a tool that enables users to upload and search for matching images on the web. It uses facial recognition technology to create geometric  'faceprints' of images submitted and found online.

Created in 2017 by Polish software developers Łukasz Kowalczyk and Denis Tatina, PimEyes was commercialised in 2020 and purchased in 2021 by Georgian academic Giorgi Gobronidze. 

The tool started life as a way for stalkers and others to pry into the lives of celebrities, before pivoting to become a product marketed as a way for people to protect themselves against 'scammers, identity thieves, or people who use your image illegally'.

Risks and harms 🛑

PimEyes has been dogged by controversy since its launch for issues ranging from poor ethics, governance and transparency, notably regarding the ease with which it can be misused for harassment, stalking and surveillance, to privacy abuse.

Data scraping

• PimEyes was found to be including photos on its system scraped from major social media platforms, including YouTube and TikTok

• Software engineer and writer Cher Scarlett discovered PimEyes had been using stolen photos of dead people to train its algorithms

Privacy loss

PimEyes may market itself as a way to protect privacy, but it is also seen as a privacy threat. 

• UK pressure group accused PimEyes of surveillance, privacy abuse

• A Germany data privacy watchdog opened proceedings against PimEyes for privacy abuse

• Five plaintiffs sued PimEyes in Illinois, USA, for privacy violations

• Cher Scarlett found she was unable to have non-consensual, explicit photographs of her removed from PimEyes

• A film fan used PimEyes to identify anonymous porn stars

• The New York Times reported that PimEyes was able to identify people wearing sunglasses, hats, and face masks

Harassment, stalking, surveillance

Criticism has been levelled at PimEyes for the ease with which it can be used for various forms of unethical and illegal surveillance, harassment and abuse, including stalking, revenge porn, and fraud.

• UK civil liberties group Big Brother Watch filed a legal complaint accusing PimEyes of 'surveillance and stalking on a scale previously unimaginable'

• PimEyes was accused of making it 'disturbingly easy' for users to find 'potentially explicit' photographs of children

Research, advocacy 🧮

• Chan G. (2021). Towards a calibrated trust-based approach to the use of facial recognition technology

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://ipvm.com/reports/pimeyes-profile

• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13108627/I-tried-AI-face-scanning-app-dubbed-disturbing-site-internet-hunts-photos-never-knew-existed.html

• https://www.npr.org/2023/10/11/1204822946/facial-recognition-search-engine-ai-pim-eyes-google

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/05/14/pimeyes-facial-recognition-search-secrecy/