There will be no mass facial recognition and no social rating system in the EU

MEPs have overwhelmingly adopted a resolution on the need to introduce a complete and permanent ban on machine facial recognition in public places in the European Union, as such systems violate privacy and human dignity. The Resolution also imposes a ban on the introduction of any kind of social rating systems for predicting crimes, as well as on the use of algorithms with elements of artificial intelligence in the judicial sphere.

The European Parliament also called for a ban in the near future on the use of private databases for recognizing human faces, such as the artificial intelligence system of the American company Clearview, which is already used by police in various European countries. MEPs said they would outlaw all computer systems for predicting offences based on behavioural data.

The Resolution also aims to combat algorithmic bias and calls for mandatory strict oversight of AI algorithms by human operators. This will prevent discrimination by AI, especially in law enforcement and border crossings.

It is clear from the resolution that algorithms that use AI-based identification systems often misidentify ethnic minorities, people with dark skin, the elderly and women to ensure basic human rights are respected. These algorithms need to be transparent and very well documented so that the decision can be traced.

Source: techcrunch

Illustration: Getty Images