Back
~
2
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Microsoft just made like Drake and said 'honestly, nevermind' about its facial recognition tech

Microsoft will no longer distribute its facial recognition tech that predicts people's emotions, as it tries to get ahead of lawmakers.

What's the key learning?

  • Microsoft will no longer distribute its facial recognition technology that can predict people's emotions, gender and age
  • The tech was found to likely misidentify women and people with darker skin tones and it raised some tricky questions about privacy
  • US and EU legislators are investigating the legal and ethical questions around facial recognition, so it may be that Microsoft was turning itself in before getting caught.

👉 Background: Facial recognition tech can be used to unlock smartphones, tag friends in pics on social media... And lots of tech companies are in on the fun, including Microsoft with its Azure Face Services.

👉  What happened: Azure can (sorta) predict a person's emotions, gender and age. But after a two-year review, Microsoft is canning its specky (read: spooky) tech. It found it would likely misidentify women and people with darker skin tones. And it also raised some tricky questions about privacy.

👉 What else: It's pretty interesting timing, considering US regulators are looking into the ethics around facial recognition tech... So maybe Microsoft was turning itself in before it got caught!

What's the key learning?

💡As regulators start to crack down on privacy and antitrust issues more and more, tech giants like Microsoft have been racing to get ahead of the legislative curve.

💡 We know that antitrust laws that would prohibit big tech companies from prioritising their own business above others are juuust around the corner. But it turns out US and EU legislators are also investigating the legal and ethical questions around facial recognition.

💡We recently learned that Bunnings, Kmart and The Good Guys have also been using facial recognition tech without shoppers even realising. Yikes! So, Microsoft could be detracting attention from its products to avoid a run-in with the regs altogether.

Ready to win at money?

Sign up for Flux and join 100,000 members of the Flux family

A button to App StoreGoogle Play store button
Excellent  4.9 out of 5
Star rating