Regulators should be aware that AI has a double face

An app that makes users look like celebrities has gone viral online. The app, called Zao, lets users post video clips taken from blockbuster movies or hit TV series, and replace an actor's face with that of their own or someone else. But it means people may have a leading role in a video clip posted by someone other than themselves. Beijing News comments:

There is no doubt the software is very likely to be abused in ways that infringe upon people's privacy.

Such technology, such as facial recognition, is widely used in many fields today, and the app highlights how technology may be ambushed by dangers and risks that were unforeseen by the developers.

The fast development of AI has outpaced the relevant laws and rules that are expected to be able to effectively compel the technology companies to take the possible side effects of their products into account before launching them in the market.

But such mechanisms have been absent as the tech companies issue apps like Zao, one after another, adopting a hit and run approach.

In other words, the law is always playing catchup, and technology for smash-and-grab gains comes at the cost of public interest and business ethics.

Although China is an active trailblazer in AI, it still has a long way to go in exploring the design of such an institutional system that can effectively help avoid the technology-related moral and ethnic implications, and rein in the risks of profit-chasing innovations.

Immersed in the message that technology is progress and can make the world a better place for everyone, many people might have already abandoned their right to reflect on the other side of the coin, the possible harm technology can do.

Policymakers should not just focus on technological innovations, but also corresponding regulatory means to limit the harm of unscrupulous profiteering. If lawmakers and rule setters in the industrial administrative departments also fall prey to the wishful thinking that technology is panacea for a bright future, technology's advancement might end up leading humans astray.