The chief executive of Alphabet - Google's parent company, Alphabet, on Monday endorsed a proposal by the European Union to temporarily ban face recognition technology because of its potential for malicious purposes.
"I think it is important for governments and regulations to deal with this sooner rather than later and to provide a framework for that," Sundar Pichai said at a conference in the capital, Brussels, organized by the Bruegel Research Center.
The European Commission, which acts as the executive body of the European Union, is taking a tougher line on artificial intelligence from the United States, seeking to reinforce existing privacy and data rights regulations, according to an 18-page proposal seen by Reuters.
Part of this would include halting the use of facial recognition technology in public areas for up to five years, to allow time for the European Union to figure out how to prevent violations, according to the proposal.
"It may be immediate, but there may be a waiting period before we really think about how to use it," Pichai said, referring to facial recognition technology, adding that "it is up to governments to determine the course" of using this technology.
He urged the organizers to take a "proportional approach" when drafting the rules, days before the committee set a date to publish proposals on the issue.
| Companies and law enforcement agencies are increasingly adopting facial recognition technology (Reuters) |
Regulators are struggling to find ways to control artificial intelligence, and encourage innovation while trying to curb potential misuse, as companies and law enforcement agencies are increasingly adopting this technology.
There is no doubt that artificial intelligence needs to be regulated, but the framers have to move carefully, Pichai said.
"Reasonable rules must also follow a proportional approach, and balance potential damage with social opportunities, and this is especially true in areas with high risk and high value."
He said that regulatory bodies should adapt the rules according to different sectors, citing medical devices and self-driving cars as examples requiring different rules, and urged governments to harmonize their rules and agree on basic values.
Earlier this month, the US government published regulatory guidelines on artificial intelligence technology aimed at curbing abuse of powers, and urged Europe to avoid an aggressive approach.
"It is important to be clear about the error that can happen with artificial intelligence, and that while the technology promises huge benefits, there are real concerns about the potential negative consequences," said Pichai.
One area of concern is the so-called "deep counterfeiting" that is manipulating video or audio using artificial intelligence, in such a way that anyone in a video says anything with any expression.
Pichai added that Google released open data sets to help the search community create better tools to discover such counterfeiting.