The Denton County Sheriff’s Office has renewed an agreement with Clearview AI to continue using the company’s facial recognition technology in investigations. Denton County Commissioners approved a new agreement between the Denton County Sheriff’s Office and Clearview AI, a company that offers artificial intelligence-based facial recognition technology. The Sheriff’s Office has been using this company’s technology since Oct. 1, 2023, according to past Commissioners Court agendas. In the renewal, Denton County will pay almost three times as much over the course of the three-year contract since 2023. According to documents included with a Commissioners Court agenda from Sept. 12, 2023, the county agreed three payments over three years totaling $23,628. In documents included with the Aug. 25 agenda, county commissioners approved the renewal that will total $62,500 over the three-year contract. It’s not clear in the documents what services or technology are provided, or if there are changes in services in the renewal. The Denton Record-Chronicle made multiple attempts to contact the Denton County Sheriff’s Office but did not receive further information about the office’s use of the technology by Tuesday afternoon. When an officer uploads a photo of a person to Clearview AI, it searches more than 70 billion publicly accessible images to produce links that may contain similar faces, according to the company’s website. Clearview AI is currently available for use only by government agencies. The company claims to produce results that are at least 99% accurate for all demographics. The Fort Worth, Irving and Plano Police Departments were reportedly also using Clearview AI on a “trial basis” in 2020. The Denton Record-Chronicle attempted to contact all three Police Departments to confirm if they are still using the technology; none responded by Tuesday afternoon. The Dallas Police Department has also been using the technology since October 2024. The