Microsoft announced it’s adopting a set of facial recognition principles and is calling for new laws that regulate artificial intelligence software to prevent bias.
In a company blog post, Microsoft’s president Brad Smith outlined risks and potential for abuse associated with facial recognition technology. This included citing issues relating to privacy, democratic freedoms, and discrimination.
“Governments and the tech sector both play a vital role in ensuring that facial recognition technology creates broad societal benefits while curbing the risk of abuse,” said Smith.
As the issues with young technology become clearer, “we need to tackle the initial questions now and learn as we go,” he added.
Microsoft believes legislation can better influence the outcomes of facial recognition testing for accuracy and unfair bias. The company calls for laws requiring testing services to provide documentation clearly explaining the limitations of the software and for companies to start third-party testing.
“We readily recognize that we don’t yet have all the answers. Given the early stage of facial recognition technology, we don’t even know all the questions,” said Smith. “But we believe that taking a principled approach will provide valuable experience that will enable us to learn faster.”
