Billionaire Dad Used Facial Recognition To Investigate Daughter’s Date

A billionaire supermarket tycoon has used a creepy facial recognition app ‘Clearview AI’ to identify his daughter’s date as she dined in a Manhattan Restaurant.

John Catsimatidis, Gristedes Food CEO, 71, spotted his daughter, Andrea, on a date with an unrecognized man while dining at Cipriani Downtown – an Italian Restaurant SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.

John Catsimatidis, Gristedes Food CEO, 71, used a creepy facial recognition app ‘Clearview AI’ to identify his daughter’s date as she dined in a Manhattan Restaurant

Recruiting a waiter to secure a picture of the mystery man, Mr. Catsimatidis scans the date’s image using Clearview AI facial recognition system, cross-referencing the image with pictures scraped from platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

Producing the selection of other images, the app brought out the websites on which they appeared. The billionaire dad was able to recognize his daughter’s date was from San Francisco, California and precisely a Venture Capitalist.

Andrea on a date with an unrecognized man while dining at Cipriani Downtown – an Italian Restaurant in SoHo Neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.

Mr. Catsimatidis was able to do this despite Clearview’s claim that its app is only available to security professionals and law enforcement, showing the firm has equally granted access to numerous prospective clients and investors.

Andrea was astonishingly unfazed by the occurrence. ‘I know my dad to be able to do crazy things. He’s technologically savvy. My date was equally surprised.’ Andrea said.

The billionaire dad recognizeD his daughter’s date was from San Francisco, California and precisely a Venture Capitalist

‘I just wanted to be sure the man wasn’t a charlatan.’ Mr. Catsimatidis added.

The controversial Clearview App works effectively by scanning its colossal database of over three billion portraits – extracted from social media sites, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for matches.

Hoan Ton-That, 31, – Clearview Co-Founder had earlier discharged concerns over the sources of the image library that fuels his App by comparing it to a normal search engine.

Hoan Ton-That, 31, – Clearview Co-Founder had discharged concerns over the sources of the image library that fuels his App by comparing it to a normal search engine

‘Google can pull information from any websites. There is a first amendment right to public details. The way the system is built is to only extract publicly available index and information. Since its public and it’s out there, it can be in Google search engine as well as inside ours.’ Hoan justified his software.

Social Media organizations have also complained over Clearview’s mining of photos from the sites by sending out cease-and-desist letters. Nevertheless, Mr. Catsimatidis got to know about Clearview through his friend, Richard Schwartz, the company’s other founder.

Social Media organizations have complained over Clearview’s mining of photos from the sites by sending out cease-and-desist letters

 The billionaire, last summer ran a trial of the software at one of the Gristedes Food’s Manhattan, using the app to identify shoplifters or individuals known to have held up other stores.