Frankenstein in the Pipeline: Computational Epistemicide in Facial Recognition
Abstract
While the eugenic roots of computer vision are well-documented in critical technology studies, less attention has been paid to the operational mechanisms through which this violence is enacted at the level of the pipeline. This paper employs Mary Shelley's Frankenstein not as a metaphor for unintended consequences, but as a diagnostic framework for method: disassembly, reconstruction, and the production of a creature whose legitimacy is asserted by the procedure that made it.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
Face Recognition and Perception
Posthumanist Ethics and Activism
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Proceedings of the 2026 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency
- Publisher
- ACM
- Pages
- 2278–2291
- Publication date
- 25 June 2026