Kashmir Hill, of the NY Times, has done excellent investigative reporting into the rise of Clearview AI. She now has a new book called "Your Face Belongs to Us," going in-depth about this.

She published an excerpt in Rolling Stones that features Joe Montana, Ashton Kutcher, and a billionaire's daughter boyfriend, a few excerpts:

His name was Joe, and his email, saying that he might invest, was full of typos. Ton-That forwarded the message to Schwartz, expressing annoyance that Leone not only wasn’t investing himself but was telling other people about the app. Schwartz immediately called Ton-That.

“That’s Joe Montana,” Schwartz told him. “Who’s that?” Ton-That asked. [Joe Montana is an NFL Hall of Famer and now an investor]

Kutcher said he used the app only a handful of times, and that he found it “scary.” That wasn’t a bad thing; in fact it was “usually a good signal for an early-stage company,” he said. After the Hot Ones episode, Kutcher set up a due diligence call with Ton-That, but he came away from it unwilling to work with or invest in the company. He was put off both by the company’s existing investors and something in Ton-That’s past that “didn’t sit right” with him, though he couldn’t later recall what it had been.

John Catsimatidis, a New York billionaire in his sixties with real estate, energy, and media holdings... His daughter, Andrea, a striking blonde who favors tight dresses and plunging necklines, walked into the restaurant on the arm of a man her father didn’t recognize. Catsimatidis asked a waiter to take a photo of the couple and then uploaded it to the app. Within seconds, it identified the mystery suitor as a venture capitalist from San Francisco. “I wanted to make sure he wasn’t a charlatan,” Catsimatidis said.

Clearview has been repeatedly sued and faced legal action, in the US and beyond. ACLU "Ready to Take Action," Touts Win Against Clearview AI, US Clearview AI Database "Collected Illegally" Declares EU Parliament, Clearview AI Disputes

More recently, Clearview has had layoffs, as IPVM reported - Clearview AI Headcount Drops Sharply.

There is no doubt an app like Clearview that connects facial recognition into social networks could be very powerful but there's certainly lots of concern about it being abused.

We've also tested a Clearview competitor who aims to be more responsible - PimEyes Face Search Engine Company Profile, PimEyes Face Search Engine Tested