Ukraine uses facial recognition to send photos of dead Russian soldiers to their families

Russian soldier
(Image credit: Photo by ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukraine's IT Army, a government-directed force of volunteer hackers, is using facial recognition technology to identify dead Russian soldiers and send photos of the corpses to their families, The Washington Post reported Friday.

In a Telegram video reminiscent of those produced by the hacker group Anonymous, IT Army explained the process. "As a dead body is found and a photo of its [sic] made, AI will look for the accounts in social media as well as the accounts of a friend, relative, if there are joint photos in internet. Next, we notify a beloved one about the death of a soldier and attach a photo of the body. As of now, we have managed to identify 582 abandoned corpses and inform relatives," the English subtitles read.

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Grayson Quay

Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-GazetteModern AgeThe American ConservativeThe Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.