Briefing: Sensetime CEO says cities should regulate facial recognition, not ban it

Cities should regulate facial recognition instead of banning it, China’s AI champion SenseTime says – South China Morning Post

What happened: Xu Li, CEO and co-founder of Sensetime, the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup, says governments should craft regulations to govern facial recognition systems, and not impose an outright ban on their use. There should be guidelines that govern the circumstances for which emerging technologies can be used, the South China Morning Post cites Xu as saying. He believes that introducing new rules to control how the technology is implemented is crucial to its widespread adoption.

What happened: Lu’s comments come shortly after San Francisco became the first US city to ban the use of facial recognition technology by police and government agencies. The restriction excludes airports and federally regulated facilities. Oakland in California and Somerville in Massachusetts are contemplating similar bans. In China, facial recognition systems are being used for access control at the country’s borders, but also in classrooms and to punish jaywalkers. The country has made rapid advances in the technology as a result of its large population and huge trove of centralized data.