Microsoft president warns of an Orwellian society

Microsoft president warns of an Orwellian society

New York, 6/1/2021

Microsoft President Brad Smith has warned that AI and other advanced technologies could lead to an Orwellian society by 2024 unless more laws are enacted to protect people. Smith suggested that unregulated AI technologies such as facial recognition could lead to widespread mass surveillance. He recommended that lawmakers enact new rules now because the technology is constantly evolving, so „it could be very difficult to catch up.“

China is often cited as an example, where this software constantly monitors millions of people with a system of 70 million closed-circuit TV cameras.

ust over half of Europeans said they would favor replacing some lawmakers with AI systems, according to an IE University Center for the Governance of Change survey. About 75% of people surveyed in China supported replacing parliamentarians with AI. In the U.S., 60% of respondents were opposed to it.