He noted that there’s an important role for
governments to play and that as the European
Union and the U.S. start drawing up their
own approaches to regulation, “international
alignment” of any eventual rules will be critical.
He did not provide specific proposals.
Pichai spoke on the same day he was scheduled
to meet the EU’s powerful competition regulator,
Margrethe Vestager. She’s also due to meet
Microsoft President Brad Smith separately.
Vestager has in previous years hit the Silicon
Valley giant with multibillion-dollar fines for
allegedly abusing its market dominance to
choke off competition. After being reappointed
for a second term last autumn with expanded
powers over digital technology policies, Vestager
has now set her sights on artificial intelligence,
and is drawing up rules on its ethical use.
Pichai’s comments suggest the company may
be hoping to head off a broad-based crackdown
by the EU on the technology. Vestager and the
EU have been the among the more aggressive
regulators of big tech firms, an approach U.S.
authorities have picked up with investigations
into the dominance of companies like Google,
Facebook and Amazon.
“Sensible regulation must also take a
proportionate approach, balancing potential
harms with social opportunities,” he said, adding
that it could incorporate existing standards
like Europe’s tough General Data Protection
Regulation rather than starting from scratch.
While it promises big benefits, he raised
concerns about potential downsides of artificial
intelligence, citing as one example its role
in facial recognition technology, which can
Image: Virginia Mayo