Facial recognition technology has long faced criticism for its failure to correctly identify Black faces, and that failure has real consequences when it is used in policing. In Detroit, those consequences fell on Porcha Woodruff, a Black woman who was eight months pregnant when she was arrested in February 2023 for a carjacking she did not commit. She was taken from her home while preparing her children for school, spent 10 hours in jail, and was later cleared when the charges were dropped. Her ordeal highlighted the risks that come when a tool marketed as objective is allowed to influence investigations in communities already subject to heavy surveillance.

Woodruff challenged her arrest in court, filing a civil rights lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Judith Levy acknowledged in her August 5

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