Michael McLaughlin

A close look at data from a new NIST report reveals that the best facial recognition algorithms in the world are highly accurate and have vanishingly small differences in their rates of false-positive or false-negative readings across demographic groups.

Policymakers should seek to maximize the benefits of Internet openness while maintaining carefully designed guardrails that reduce the Internet’s most clearly harmful uses.

While law enforcement needs tools to protect the public, requiring companies to provide access to encrypted consumer data would have the unintended consequence of putting vulnerable populations at risk without solving law enforcement’s most significant challenges in using digital evidence.

The UK currently has many advantages in developing and using AI, but as Michael McLaughlin writes for SC Magazine, it will fall behind if it doesn’t take the right steps to secure its AI leadership.

Growing animus toward “Big Tech” companies and generalized opposition to technological innovation engenders support for policies that are expressly designed to inhibit it. That is deeply problematic for future progress, prosperity, and competitiveness.

The California State Senate is considering a bill to make it illegal for law enforcement to use facial recognition technology in officer-worn body cameras. The bill, AB 1215, has passed the State Assembly. It should not pass the Senate because it is based on a number of fallacies concerning facial recognition technology and would undermine beneficial uses of it by law enforcement.

As Daniel Castro and Michael McLaughlin write for Irish Tech News, the European Union needs a plan to stay competitive in artificial intelligence after Brexit.

The United States leads the race for global advantage in artificial intelligence, at least for the time being, with China coming in second and the EU lagging behind. But China is poised to challenge U.S. dominance in coming years as it undertakes bold AI initiatives.

There is a clear lesson for consumers: do not use piracy apps. Do not download them and do not purchase streaming device boxes with these apps preloaded. They are untrustworthy.

Taking the bludgeon of anti-trust to tech companies will make cyber security worse, not better.

Focusing on mitigating speculative concerns about AI will limit its development and adoption. Policymakers should instead encourage innovation while crafting targeted solutions for specific problems if they occur.

Critics are wrong about the value of an individual’s data, as they confuse the value data in aggregate can generate with the market price buyers will pay for individual data. Unfortunately, too many lawmakers have begun crafting policies stemming from these misguided notions leading to proposals that are bad for consumers and the digital economy.