UK PM endorses live facial recognition in pre-election stump speech

With great danger comes technological innovation, says UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in a keynote speech for the Policy Exchange UK conference delivered in a decidedly evangelistic tone. Laying out his government’s plans and objectives, Sunak touches on both the risks and opportunities that come with new applications of technology, such as facial recognition for law enforcement and the many evolving use cases for AI.

Noting that a general sense of instability and insecurity is heightened by fears about new technologies, Sunak nonetheless takes a bullish view of Britain’s place in the tech ecosystem, and vice versa. “The paradox is that for all the profound dangers that we face, right now we also hold in our hands an opportunity for human progress that could surpass the Industrial Revolution in speed and breadth,” Sunak says. “Technologies like AI will do for the 21st century, what the steam engine and electricity did for the 19th. They’ll accelerate human progress by complementing what we do.”

One noteworthy example of acceleration is the deployment of facial recognition technology by police, which Sunak recently supported with an investment of £55.5 million (US$69.5 million) to be spent over four years. It’s part of a wider push to digitize public services and keep pace with contemporary threats to privacy and identity.

“Imagine a welfare system where new technologies allow us to crack down on the fraudsters exploiting the hard working taxpayers who fund it,” says Sunak. “Imagine the huge opportunities to cut crime through technologies like live facial recognition helping police catch wanted criminals, find missing people and spend more time on the beat.”

AI invoked as boogeyman but loose ethics is root cause of misuse

Sunak urges his audience to think of the investment and the jobs that new technologies will bring. And yet he is not above invoking the specter of technological armageddon. “When the IMF says 40 percent of jobs could be affected” by AI, says Sunak, “or hundreds of leading experts say the risk could be on a par with pandemics or nuclear war – and when children are exposed to bullying, sexualized content, or even self harm online – people want to know that they’ve got someone in charge who understands these things.”

Understanding how they work, however, is not the same as understanding how, why and when to use them. Runaway enthusiasm for effective biometric tools can easily outpace regulatory oversight. Not all uses of facial recognition technology, for instance, are done in good faith with full transparency. And of course, not everyone is convinced governments will be able to avoid the temptation to conduct mass surveillance.

Sunak reminds us that humankind’s “greatest breakthroughs of science and learning have so often come at the moments of greatest danger.” In doing so, he confirms both sides of his message: if well managed, new technological tools can be a boon to society. But there is danger ahead, and it is prudent to proceed with caution.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  criminal ID  |  facial recognition  |  police  |  UK