Cities should regulate facial recognition instead of banning it, China’s AI champion SenseTime says

• The CEO of the world’s most valuable AI start-up says guidelines would help manage how these systems are deployed.

SenseTime, the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, has called on governments to establish new regulation for facial recognition systems, following the recent decision in San Francisco to ban local police and other agencies from using such technology because of the potential for abuse.

“Governments should craft regulations, instead of restricting use [of facial recognition systems],” said Xu Li, co-founder and chief executive of SenseTime, on the sidelines of a company event in Beijing on Wednesday. “There should be standard guidelines to determine under which conditions certain emerging technologies can be used.”

He described the introduction of new rules covering facial recognition as “crucial” towards the wider adoption of this form of AI technology around the world, while suggesting the ban in San Francisco ban would be the “exception” to that trend.