The EU data protection agency called on Monday (June 21) to completely ban the use of artificial intelligence to identify people in public places, stating that the privacy risk is “extremely high.”
In a non-binding opinion, the two agencies called for a “total prohibition” of this practice, including “recognizing faces, gait, fingerprints, DNA, voice, keystrokes and other biometric or behavioral signals under any circumstances “.
The head of the European Data Protection Commission and European Data Protection Supervisor stated that this approach “interferes with fundamental rights and freedoms to a certain extent, so that the nature of these rights and freedoms may be questioned.”
The statement stated that the ban would include any artificial intelligence that “categorizes individuals based on race, gender, politics, or sexual orientation.”
This opinion was prepared for the European Commission. The EU executive agency announced a proposal to regulate artificial intelligence in April, which does not completely prohibit the use of this technology for public identification.
The committee’s plan includes special exceptions that allow large-scale facial recognition to be used in situations such as finding missing children, avoiding terrorist threats, or tracking people suspected of serious crimes.
Brussels hopes that its first artificial intelligence legislation will help Europe catch up with the United States and China in areas ranging from speech recognition to insurance and law enforcement.
The committee said in a statement that it took note of this opinion but supported a proposal to “provide adequate protection and limit the use of these systems to the minimum necessary.”
The proposal is being negotiated between the European Parliament and 27 member states. The result may set a global standard for the way technology is regulated.
