Tuesday briefing: How AI facial recognition in policing works – and how it can go wrong | Facial recognition
Good morning. Over the last few days, the Guardian has been reporting that facial recognition technology is being rolled out across the UK at a pace that is outpacing the rules designed to govern it. Police forces are increasingly using live systems to scan the public in real time, while retailers are using similar tools to identify suspected thieves.
Proponents of the technology argue that facial recognition is effective and permanent. Critics warn this risks creating a system where people are tracked and sometimes incorrectly marked without clear safeguards.
I spoke to the Guardian’s UK tech editor for today’s newsletter: Robert Boothabout how the technology works, how widely it is used now, and what happens when it goes wrong. First, this morning’s headlines.
five big stories
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Middle East crisis | Donald Trump has threatened that Iran will be “off the ground” if it attacks US ships trying to reopen the route through the Strait of Hormuz.
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delivery industry | More than 7,000 Just Eat couriers are taking legal action against the food delivery company in a bid to win better employment rights, including minimum wage and holiday pay.
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Europe | At the European Political Community summit in Armenia’s capital Yerevan, as heads of government gathered to discuss the EU’s loan plan for Ukraine, Keir Starmer called on Europe to “confront” tensions with the Trump administration.
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uk news | Keir Starmer called on the whole of society to react against rising anti-Semitism on Tuesday, saying it was not enough to just condemn the scourge, people “must show” it with their actions.
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cost of living | According to research by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, food prices are expected to be 50% higher as of November compared to 2021.
In depth: ‘I have a feeling this is happening in an eerie way’
On a recent afternoon in Croydon, Robert Booth watched police officers trialling the deployment of live facial recognition cameras. Cameras mounted above the street were kept on for several hours. Nearby, uniformed and undercover police officers lingered and waited. When a person on the watch list passed through the camera’s field of view, an alert was sent to officers’ phones. What happened next was quite striking.
“It was like a trap closing,” Robert told me. Police officers closed in on the person within seconds, often with no idea the person had been identified, in a “sort of netting.” In one case, he saw a man tackled to the ground by several police officers within minutes.
“Everything happens at once,” he says. “It feels pretty new that these kinds of things are happening in the public space, entirely made possible by technology.”
How does it work and why now?
As Robert writes in this explainer, live facial recognition systems scan faces captured on camera and compare them to watch lists compiled by police or private operators. If the system detects a potential match, it alerts officers and they can decide whether to intervene.
Part of the appeal is clear: it can be effective. Police say this has led to arrests, and businesses claim it is a deterrent to theft.
But the rapid proliferation of facial recognition reflects a broader pattern seen in other technologies, from social media to age verification; here, adoption has outpaced the development of clear regulatory frameworks to govern it. And usage is growing rapidly: so far this year, the Metropolitan police in London have scanned more than 1.7 million faces. 87% compared to the same period in 2025.
‘End situations’ where anxiety arises
On Monday, social affairs reporter Jessica Murray reported on the case of Ian Clayton, a retired health and safety specialist from Chester. He is one of several people who spoke to the Guardian after being mistakenly identified as a shoplifter by shops using Facewatch, a live facial recognition system. He described his experience of being thrown out of a store after his face was marked “very Orwellian”, adding: “It was like I was guilty until proven innocent.”
“These are certainly difficult and inaccurate cases. The question is how common these cases are,” says Robert. “The technology itself can evolve, and so can the systems of how it is used,” he adds. Even so, if the technology is used more widely, a small error rate can easily become significant.
Beyond individual mistakes, there is broader concern about the cumulative impact of technology; Acting in public increasingly involves acting without awareness. are monitored and controlled against databases.
What do the public think?
Robert spoke to people in Croydon as he observed police using the system. “Some people think that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about,” he told me. “They also point out that our faces are already being used in many different ways on the internet and to unlock our phones.”
Others are more worried. “They are concerned about the risk of misidentification and that they may not have noticed the cameras. There’s a feeling this is happening insidiously.”
There are also those who strongly oppose its use. Robert says they see the scanning of hundreds of thousands of faces in public as “a clear violation of their freedom”. Freedom campaign group I warnedThe situation now is that police can retroactively use any images or footage they have as a tool to intimidate at protests and have used it to track children up to the age of 12. The data also showed that systems were more likely to incorrectly include black and Asian people in search results than their white counterparts.
What happens now?
“The question is whether regulators can ensure that the downsides of the technology do not occur, so that people feel they are getting benefits without harm,” says Robert.
What is clear is that control is fragmented. Various bodies are involved in this process, including the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Observers warned that this patchwork approach was struggling to keep up with the rapid evolution of technology. The Home Office said it was considering a new legal framework for the technology.
For now, the direction of the trend is clear. “Technology will obviously continue to advance,” says Robert. “The question is whether the rules around it can continue.”
What else did we read?
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Alex Needham, The Guardian’s Arts editor, ventured to Naoshima, Japan’s “art island”, under the guidance of the avant-garde creator. Lee Ufan. The Korean-born artist, whose retrospective exhibition will open in Venice next weekend, explains how he was inspired by Duchamp and why he once pursued three huge sheets of paper in Tokyo. Yassin El-Moudden, newsletters team
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No one likes a breakup or bad news. Looking at Isabel Bekele People using AI chatbots to rehearse strange conversations advance. Martin
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Combining pedal steel guitar with Turkish guitar reedthe former Vampire Weekend member’s third solo album Rostam Batmanglij It blends Americana with sounds from southwest Asia. It’s Batmanglij’s “best to date,” according to Shaad D’Souza, who spoke to the Iranian-American musician in this great interview. Yasin
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My colleague Sammy Gecsoyler was sent to Birmingham for investigation. The death of the nightclub in Englandasks: “What happened to Saturday night?” Martin
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This fascinating special Kenya’s AI-supported healthcare system It follows months of investigation into how technology is being used to means test the amount patients are expected to contribute – with disastrous consequences for the poorest. Yasin
Sport
Football | Four players were taken off with head injuries as Nottingham Forest beat Calum McFarlane’s Chelsea 3-1. Manchester City’s wild 3-3 draw with Everton may have given Arsenal an advantage in the title race.
Billiards | Wu Yize won the World Snooker Championship final by beating Shaun Murphy by 85 points, 18-17.
Cycling | 19-year-old French prodigy Paul Seixas is set to become the youngest Tour de France cyclist in 89 years, raising hopes that he could become the country’s first domestic winner since 1985.
front pages
“Trump’s offer to reopen Hormuz brings the region to the brink” Guard While jumping on Tuesday F.T. “Iran warned the US not to enter the Strait of Hormuz and launched drones at the UAE,” he says.
Before local elections i Paper “Leadership rivals circle Starmer as local election ‘bloodbath’ approaches for Labor.” Times “Labor MPs plotting Starmer coup after poll losses,” he runs; Mirror “Stop him” is written under Nigel Farage’s photo. Kemi Badenoch tells Daily Mail “Britain needs zero tolerance for the crimes that make our lives miserable.” Sun He leads with: “Just one more small boat and the number of arrivals… reached 200,000”.
Metro It focuses on the tension with Brussels under the title “Starmer walks the EU tightrope”. Telegram top news “Met wants UK trial for Madeleine suspect” and lastly To express “Fans ban police czar campaigns featuring man behind vile abuse”.
In Focus Today
Fake fans, fake buzz? How your favorite band grew up
Shaad D’Souza explains He reveals how bands like Geese have faced a backlash since a marketing company revealed the tricks of getting them into the spotlight, and Eamonn Forde explains what it takes to succeed in today’s music industry.
Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings
positive side
A bit of good news to remind you that the world isn’t that bad
High schools in one London borough are trialling a new way to help students cope with the anxiety caused by exams, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and difficult home lives: virtual reality. Schools in the borough of Sutton are teaming up with a local NHS mental health trust to trial the use of a VR headset from tech company Phase Space.
In the first 10 schools to trial the devices, 90% of students saw an immediate reduction in stress levels, while attendance increased and test anxiety decreased. Sixteen-year-old student Lora Wilson described using this tool: “It’s hard to explain, but it’s a really cool experience. It feels like I’m somewhere else and I can relax.”
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