Microsoft CEO calls for AI regulation of facial recognition technology
Artificial intelligence may benefit business and society, but Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company is taking responsibility and protecting privacy as a human right.
“One of the things we recognize is, with AI technology, with all the benefits come some unintended uses, like bias or facial recognition,” Nadella said Tuesday during an exclusive interview with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo.
Microsoft recently faced criticism from staff members for working with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the government’s family-separation policy. However, Nadella made it clear that they would “not participate in any project that is going to be against fundamental human rights.”
“What we are doing with ICE, is to support them in the core infrastructure on email, but we are not at all involved in any of the facial recognition technology and their use cases.”
As a result, in Nadella’s opinion, more government regulation is needed.
“We, in fact, welcome any regulation in any expert company that the legislative process creates, and then the rules and policies that come out of it,” Nadella added.
However, Nadella does see one potentially lucrative opportunity in digital. The tech giant recently signed a deal with Walmart aimed at using cloud technology to make shopping faster and easier.
“Everything that we think about, every place is being digitized, whether it’s a retail outlet or a hospital, stadium, your home, or your workplace is increasingly computing [and] is getting embedded in the real world,” he said. “And in the case of Walmart, it’s a good example because if you think about Walmart, they have an amazing lead today when it comes to anything around offline commerce. But they’re increasing their momentum online.”