Sundar Pichai Prescribes Care And Caution On Facial Recognition Tech, But Microsoft Disagrees

We are already aware of how scary facial recognition can be for humanity. Not only does it put user privacy in danger but it also can be used for purposes that can be inhumane, to say the least.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai had an interesting perspective in this growing debate, while he was talking about facial recognition at an event in Brussels organised by think-tank Bruegel.

Reuters

Sundar Pichai had his own take on the European Union¡¯s idea that facial-recognition should be temporarily banned, stating that it could be used for nefarious purposes. He said, "I think it is important that governments and regulations tackle it (facial recognition fears) sooner rather than later and give a framework for it."

Sundar Pichai further stated, "It can be immediate but maybe there's a waiting period before we really think about how it's being used. It's up to governments to chart the course for the use of such technology.¡±

EU is already taking a hard stand on areas where artificial intelligence is implemented as compared to the US, strengthening existing regulations on privacy and data rights, as reported first by Reuters. One of their inclusions is a temporary ban on facial recognition tech in public areas for up to five years to give them time to prepare against possible abuses of the technology.

A different point of view

However, Microsoft President had a different take on Sundar Pichai's cautious stand or the EU's restrictive attitude on facial recognition. According to Brand Smith, facial recognition tech can be helpful for humanity in specific cases -- like helping NGOs finding missing children.

Reuters

He said, "I'm really reluctant to say let's stop people from using technology in a way that will reunite families when it can help them do it. The second thing I would say is you don't ban it if you actually believe there is a reasonable alternative that will enable us to, say, address this problem with a scalpel instead of a meat cleaver."

He further added, "There is only one way at the end of the day to make technology better and that is to use it," he said.

Do you feel prohibiting a tech like facial recognition is a better strategy than actually using it to help the masses and get better along the way? Let us know in the comments below.

UPDATE (Jan 23): Google provided the following official statement on the facial recognition issue: ¡°As Sundar said on Monday, we are supportive of AI regulation. Facial recognition is a very sensitive technology, and that¡¯s why we have taken a cautious approach and don't offer it in a general purpose API while we work through the policy and technical issues at stake. So while we don't support a ban on this technology, we do encourage strong guardrails - particularly for public facial recognition, through regulations and other means. We recently published a framework for facial recognition to highlight key factors for consideration.¡±