Online Webinar Q&A on Facial Recognition and Recommended Regulation

*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***

WHO:        Prof. Erik Learned-Miller, UMass Amherst College of Computer and Information Sciences

WHAT:       Online Webinar Q&A on Facial Recognition and Recommended Regulation

WHEN:      4 p.m., Wednesday, July 15

WHERE:    Space is limited. Registration is required.

Award-winning facial recognition expert professor Erik Learned-Miller will offer a one-hour zoom Q&A webinar at 4 p.m. on Wed., July 15, where he will explore face recognition research and discuss a new proposed solution for regulating the young technology that is prone to errors and misuse. The event is free and open to the public.

There are troubling examples of facial recognition problems. Police have used faulty matches as evidence despite being instructed not to rely on the automated technology alone, Learned-Miller says – the nightmare scenario that many concerned citizens and advocacy groups have been worried about.

In the webinar sponsored by the Center for Data Science, Learned-Miller will discuss how we got to today and what should be done about it. He will consider whether all face recognition technology should be banned, or if there is a way for society to benefit from its proper use while protecting against abuses and errors.

In June, Learned-Miller and colleagues at MIT’s Media Lab and the University of Virginia issued a white paper, “Facial Recognition Technologies in the Wild: A Call for a Federal Office,” in which they call for a new approach based on an FDA-inspired model for managing facial recognition technologies at the federal level.