The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which compiles the world’s most trusted assessments of biometric algorithms, has excluded all Russian companies from participation in 2022, as well as foreign legal entities. with Russian founders. About this RTVI in the program “Chroniques du Nouveau Monde” said founder of the company 3DiVi, which is engaged in facial recognition, Dmitry Morozov. Previously, 3Divi, along with other Russian companies – NtechLab, VisionLabs, Vocord and the Speech Technology Center, repeatedly occupied the top lines of NIST’s facial and voice recognition rankings.
“A year ago they already expelled all Russians from NIST, now not a single Russian company, not even Russian, you can be an American company, but if you have Russian founders, you can no longer participate in the rating,” Morozov said in an interview with RTVI. According to him, NIST no longer even uses Russian algorithms for testing.
The US NIST annually tests and ranks the most advanced biometric technologies, including facial and voice recognition algorithms. Russian companies NtechLab, 3Divi, VisionLabs have repeatedly occupied the front lines of NIST Facial Recognition Rating and the Speech Technology Center of voice recognition note .
Morozov recalled that NIST is considered the most authoritative rating on the subject of facial recognition algorithms and technologies, on which many companies are guided when choosing partners for cooperation. “In fact, customers go to NIST first, see who’s in the top [рейтингов]then they go to these companies, they start communicating there, that is, there is such a scheme, it is very important to be at the top of NIST, ”says Morozov.
He notes that 2 years ago there were no American companies in the top NIST, but today the situation has changed dramatically. “It got to the point that the Americans had such an advertising slogan, ‘We’re the first in NIST after the Chinese and the Russians.’ That phrase stuck, and as if it was already considered cool. Then there’s a year, they expelled all the Russians from NIST,” the 3DiVi founder said. “The rest of the Chinese [исключить]and all – “we are the best.” The Chinese can still use it,” the businessman added.
RTVI sent a request to NIST with a request for comment on the exclusion of Russian companies from participation in the rating.