Vatican joins IBM, Microsoft to call for facial recognition regulation

VATICAN CITY: The Vatican joined forces with tech giants Microsoft and IBM on Friday to promote the ethical development of artificial intelligence (AI) and call for regulation of intrusive technologies such as facial recognition. The three said AI should respect privacy, work reliably and without bias, consider human rights and operate transparently.

Pope Francis, who has raised concerns about the uncontrolled spread of AI technologies, gave his backing in a speech read on his behalf at a conference attended by Microsoft president Brad Smith (MSFT.O) and IBM (IBM.N) Executive Vice President John Kelly. The pope is ill and could not deliver the address himself.

Calling for the ethical development of algorithms, known as “algor-ethics”, Francis warned about the dangers of AI being used to extract data for commercial or political ends, often without the knowledge of individuals. “This asymmetry, by which a select few know everything about us while we know nothing about them, dulls critical thought and the conscious exercise of freedom,” he said in his message. “Inequalities expand enormously; knowledge and wealth accumulate in a few hands with grave risks for democratic societies,” he said. The joint document made a specific reference to the potential abuse of facial recognition technology. “New forms of regulation must be encouraged to promote transparency and compliance with ethical principles, especially for advanced technologies that have a higher risk of impacting human rights, such as facial recognition,” the document said. Police have used facial recognition systems to investigate crimes, and Fortune 500 companies have used AI to vet job applicants - both examples of high-stakes tasks where deploying inaccurate or biased software could lead to harm.