Microsoft stops selling emotion-reading tech, limits face recognition
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Monday
August 08, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
MONDAY, AUGUST 08, 2022
Microsoft stops selling emotion-reading tech, limits face recognition

World+Biz

Reuters
22 June, 2022, 11:15 am
Last modified: 22 June, 2022, 11:14 am

Related News

  • Netflix partners with Microsoft for subscription with ad
  • Netflix names Microsoft as partner for ad-supported subscription plan
  • UK watchdog investigates Microsoft's $68.7 billion Activision deal
  • UCB Stock Brokerage Ltd partners with Microsoft to shape the future of the financial industry in Bangladesh
  • Microsoft cuts Russia operations due to Ukraine invasion

Microsoft stops selling emotion-reading tech, limits face recognition

Reuters
22 June, 2022, 11:15 am
Last modified: 22 June, 2022, 11:14 am
A Microsoft logo is seen in Los Angeles, California, U.S. June 14, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
A Microsoft logo is seen in Los Angeles, California, U.S. June 14, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) on Tuesday said it would stop selling technology that guesses someone's emotion based on a facial image and would no longer provide unfettered access to facial recognition technology.

The actions reflect efforts by leading cloud providers to rein in sensitive technologies on their own as lawmakers in the United States and Europe continue to weigh comprehensive legal limits.

Since at least last year, Microsoft has been reviewing whether emotion recognition systems are rooted in science.

"These efforts raised important questions about privacy, the lack of consensus on a definition of 'emotions,' and the inability to generalize the linkage between facial expression and emotional state across use cases, regions, and demographics," Sarah Bird, principal group product manager at Microsoft's Azure AI unit, said in a blog post.

Existing customers will have one year before losing access to artificial intelligence tools that purport to infer emotion, gender, age, smile, facial hair, hair and makeup.

Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google Cloud last year embarked on a similar evaluation, first reported by Reuters. Google blocked 13 planned emotions from its tool for reading emotion and placed under review four existing ones, such as joy and sorrow. It was weighing a new system that would describe movements such as frowning and smiling, without seeking to attach them to an emotion.

Google did not immediately respond to request for comment on Tuesday.

Microsoft also said customers now must obtain approval to use its facial recognition services, which can enable people to log into websites or open locked doors through a face scan.

The company called on clients to avoid situations that infringe on privacy or in which the technology might struggle, such as identifying minors, but did not explicitly ban those uses.

Top News

Microsoft / facial recognition tech

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • TBS file photo
    Now 99% Bangladesh products come under China’s duty-free offer
  • Photo: TBS
    Production loss feared as zone-wise industrial weekly closure mulled 
  • Representational image. File Photo: Minhaj Uddin/TBS
    LC settlement fell by $1.17b in July

MOST VIEWED

  • Leen Matar, a 9-year-old Palestinian girl who was rescued from her house, which was damaged in Israeli air strikes that killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander, lies on a bed at a hospital in Rafah in southern Gaza Strip, August 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
    Palestinians sift through rubble at Gaza camp hit in Israeli strike
  • A view of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility 250 km (155 miles) south of the Iranian capital Tehran, March 30, 2005. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi//File Photo/File Photo
    Iran says success of Vienna nuclear talks depends on Washington's flexibility
  • Rescuers work at a site of a shopping mall hit by a Russian missile strike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kremenchuk, in Poltava region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released June 28, 2022. Photo: Reuters
    Ukraine probing almost 26,000 suspected war crimes cases
  • File photo. China's State Councillor Wang Yi gestures as he meets with Canada's Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne in Rome, Italy, August 25, 2020. Photo: Reuters
    Taiwan is not a part of US but Chinese territory, says Chinese foreign minister
  • Emergency services work next to a damaged building at the site of a Russian military strike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Vinnytsia, Ukraine July 14, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
    Amnesty regrets 'distress' caused by report rebuking Ukraine
  • Photo: Collected
    Taiwan says detected 66 Chinese aircraft in strait on Sunday

Related News

  • Netflix partners with Microsoft for subscription with ad
  • Netflix names Microsoft as partner for ad-supported subscription plan
  • UK watchdog investigates Microsoft's $68.7 billion Activision deal
  • UCB Stock Brokerage Ltd partners with Microsoft to shape the future of the financial industry in Bangladesh
  • Microsoft cuts Russia operations due to Ukraine invasion

Features

Safa Shareef’s bridal make-up: Contemporary with a ‘deshi’ touch

Safa Shareef’s bridal make-up: Contemporary with a ‘deshi’ touch

19h | Mode
Infograph: TBS

Why a drastic fuel price hike is dangerous

1d | Panorama
A fuel price hike to fuel agony

A fuel price hike to fuel agony

1d | Panorama
Kamal Uddin Mazumder. Sketch: TBS

Rising foreign debt and balance of payments deficit: Does Bangladesh need to worry?

1d | Thoughts

More Videos from TBS

How Google Maps operates in Bangladesh

How Google Maps operates in Bangladesh

9h | Videos
Is BPC really in loss?

Is BPC really in loss?

10h | Videos
Reasons behind Putin-Erdogan's meeting in Sochi

Reasons behind Putin-Erdogan's meeting in Sochi

15h | Videos
Dr Jamaluddin Ahmed talks about recent fuel price hike

Dr Jamaluddin Ahmed talks about recent fuel price hike

15h | Videos

Most Read

1
Diesel price hiked by Tk34 per litre, Octane by Tk46
Energy

Diesel price hiked by Tk34 per litre, Octane by Tk46

2
Housing projects sprouting up by Dhaka-Mawa expressway
Real Estate

Housing projects sprouting up by Dhaka-Mawa expressway

3
July remittance hits two-year high
Economy

July remittance hits two-year high

4
Infographic: TBS
Banking

Dollar rate will be left to market after two months: Governor

5
Bangladesh to resume talks for Ukrainian wheat import
Economy

Bangladesh to resume talks for Ukrainian wheat import

6
A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker is tugged towards a thermal power station in Futtsu, east of Tokyo, Japan November 13, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
Energy

Summit proposes long-term LNG supply to Petrobangla

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net