A U.S. Government Accountability Office report has urged Congress to develop an overarching federal framework for facial recognition. The report confirms that more businesses are using the technology than when the last report came out in 2015. Concerns abound when it comes to privacy, ethics, and consent, which is why a framework is needed.

A summary of findings:

• Some companies have started using facial recognition to monitor the spread of COVID-19.
• From 2016 to 2019, the global facial recognition technology market generated $3b to $5b in revenue. From 2022 through 2024, that's expected to grow to $7b to $10b.
• The number of participants in NIST’s Face Recognition Vendor Tests rose from 16 in 2013 to 99 in 2019, which suggests that more companies are developing facial recognition algorithms.
• Facial recognition technology is often dependent on the large-scale collection of facial images.
• Concerns include the inability of individuals to remain anonymous in public or the use of the technology without people's consent.
• Although the accuracy has increased dramatically in recent years, differences in performance exist for various demographic groups. The technology does better, generally, on lighter-skin men and worse on darker-skin women. It doesn't perform well on the elderly and children.

Related:

• New York City will reassess the NYPD's use of facial recognition technology after police used it to investigate a Black Lives Matter activist.
• Police in Miami, Fla., also used facial recognition from the firm Clearview AI to identify a woman accused or throwing rocks at officers during a May protest.
• A London court ruled that it's unlawful for South Wales Police to use automatic facial recognition to surveil crowds, which sets a precedent for how U.K. police can use the technology.

Fourteen members of the Forbes Coaches Council shared their predictions on how AI will disrupt hiring and job searches. We chose some of the most interesting comments to highlight below:

• "AI programs can conduct virtual interviews and make snap decisions on potential candidates much faster than any HR manager. Grads will have to impress AI before a recruiter." - Ashlee Anderson, Work From Home Happiness
• "For retaining top talent, AI can be used to monitor publicly available information to help monitor the mood and mindset of employees." - Steven Pfrenzinger, Self-Awareness Mastery
• "I can see AI fine-tuning the reach of employers to find, attract and retain exceptionally diverse talent throughout their organizations, particularly at the leadership level."  - Carol Parker Walsh, Carol Parker Walsh Consulting, LLC
• "AI will remove the traditional executive search functions and see an end to the leverage that search firms had in the past." - Jedidiah Alex Koh, Coaching Changes Lives
• "A bot that tells candidates exactly where they are at any point in the process would be a game-changer. Sadly, most AI products out there tend to alienate candidates rather than engage them." - Cara Heilmann, Ready Reset Go
• "AI will bring a faster way to shortlist candidates for interviews. AI can search their CV, history and social media to verify employment and experience." - Kevin Kan, Break Out Consulting Asia
• "As many organizations across the globe are using AI as a decision-making tool for retaining and evaluating talent, the data would make this approach more robust, which can complement the gut feelings of the recruiter and the manager." - Sudhakar Reddy Gade, Nirvedha Executive Coaching Solutions Pvt Ltd

Podcast Notes: Federal government's role in AI

In the last month, U.S. Reps Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Robin Kelly (D-Illinois) released three reports on a national AI strategy, done in partnership with the Bipartisan Policy Center. The reports cover AI in R&D, national security, and the workforce.

Hurd speaks with Tom Temin of the Federal Drive podcast about the future of artificial intelligence in the U.S. We've condensed their interview below, which was edited for brevity and clarity.

Temin: Tell us the background on these white papers.

Hurd says the U.S. needs to be prepared as it competes with China in a technology arms race. His interest in tech stems from his degrees in computer science, a former CIA undercover officer, an adviser for a cybersecurity company, and chairman of a cybersecurity forum at the Aspen Institute.

When Hurd first came to Congress, he chaired a subcommittee on information technology along with U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, a Democrat from Illinois. During hearing on IT procurements and commercial use of drones, they realized more needed to be invested in AI.

Robin and Will held the first congressional hearing on AI and concluded that the U.S., like other countries, needed to pursue a national strategy on AI and incorporate the tech into its operations. They began working with the Bipartisan Policy Center, a D.C.–based think tank that promotes bipartisanship, to bring together parties in the tech and private arenas to make this happen.

In addition to AI in research, national security, and the workforce, they'll be a future white paper about the ethics of AI. The end goal is to develop an AI resolution for Congress to approve, followed by individual pieces of legislation based on the ~50 recommendations made in these reports.

Temin: The first paper, AI in the workforce, is not really about AI replacing jobs, right?

No, Hurd says. But the disruption AI will play is real, and the U.S. needs to be prepared.

One example is driverless cars, which will replace driver jobs. But there's still a need to have workers who care for the vehicles and ensure that people get from point A to point B.

Part of their initiative is making sure the current workforce is prepared for these future 'new collar jobs.' There will need to be a transition, and children today - the future workforce - will need to be prepared.

Every industry is going to be impacted by AI, which some people view as a destination. But Hurd says that's the wrong way to look at it. AI will help people make better decisions more quickly and use better data. It's not necessarily going to replace all jobs, though some positions are going to go away. We have time to prepare for this disruption.

AI will help people make better decisions more quickly and use better data. It's not necessarily going to replace all jobs, though some positions are going to go away. We have time to prepare for this disruption.

Temin: What the federal government’s role in this, if most of the development is happening in the private sector?

While that's correct, the federal government should be a user of AI tools, Hurd says...

Tesla is working with TSMC and Broadcom to develop the HW 4.0 automated driving chip. Initially, there will be the production of 2,000 wafers, which is slated to begin in Q4 of this year. Mass production of the chips is expected to begin in Q4 2021.

More:

• The new chip is being produced using TSMC’s 7-nanometer process, which offers more performance and efficiency than other semiconductors on the market.
• In April 2019, Tesla unveiled its own “Full Self-Driving” chip, developed by Samsung, moving away from hardware developed by Nvidia.
• Elon Musk also said in April 2019 that said work on a next-generation chip was already underway, which was slated for release in about two years. This would be on track with Musk’s timeline.

A version of this story first appeared in Inside Electric Vehicles.

QUICK HITS

• NIST released a draft set of principles to gauge explainable AI's decisions.
• Photonics chip startup Lightmatter reveals more details about its AI optical accelerator chip, due out in fall 2021.
• The website philosopherai.com allows users to interact with a GPT-3-enabled philosopher persona.
• AI-focused YouTuber Yannic Kilcher covers how and why peer review is failing in machine learning research.
• Brad Porter, a longtime Amazon Robotics leader and engineer, has resigned from the company.
• Vidyard and Hubspot have partnered to create an in-depth guide with proven video scripts and email templates for selling remotely.*

*This is a sponsored post.