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IBM's CEO said the company will no longer offer facial recognition software while questioning how similar technology is used by law enforcement.
In a letter to Congress submitted Monday, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the company will not support any technology that could lead to mass surveillance, racial profiling or "violations of basic human rights and freedoms."
"We believe now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies," wrote Krishna.
The letter follows protests demanding change among police forces nationwide in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who died while in police custody in Minneapolis last month.
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The CEO also advocates for federal rules to hold police more accountable, as well as a national policy to improve technology used to maintain transparency, including body cameras and modern data analytics techniques.
Floyd's death has sparked demands by protesters and politicians to enact major change to policing in the U.S., including calls to reduce the amount of funding police departments receive and putting it toward community-driven programs.
Several tech companies have stepped forward to condemn racism in the wake of the protests, but some have relationships with law enforcement. Most notable is Ring, the doorbell camera company owned by Amazon that has several partnerships with police departments involving video sharing. Last year, Democratic Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos raising concerns over privacy and civil liberties.
Last year, The New York Times reported how police use a tool from Google requiring warrants to access cellphone location data to help investigate crimes.
Facial recognition is the latest digital battleground in the battle for personal privacy. Several cities and states have crafted laws to ban or limit facial recognition technology.
Krishna also called for expanding economic opportunities for people of color by expanding educational programs. "We see an urgent demand for what we call 'new collar' jobs, which require specialized skills but not necessarily a traditional 4-year college degree," he said. "Such jobs can still be found today in fast-growing fields from cybersecurity to cloud computing."
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.
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