Microsoft calls for regulating face recognition technology

In a blog post on Friday, Microsoft President Brad Smith said a government initiative to regulate the proper use of facial recognition technology is the need of the hour. “We believe US Congress should create a bipartisan expert commission to assess the best way to regulate the use of facial recognition technology in the US,” Smith said. 

The purpose of such a commission “should include advice to Congress on what types of new laws and regulations are needed, as well as stronger practices to ensure proper congressional oversight of this technology across the executive branch”, the Microsoft President noted. 

Several tech companies, including Microsoft, have utilised face recognition technology in the past several years to turn time-consuming work to catalog photos into something both instantaneous and useful.