June 15, 2023

EU Restrictions on AI Emotion Detection Products

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on the European Union’s proposed restrictions on artificial intelligence-powered emotion detection products:

“Your facial expressions, eye movements, tone of voice and the way you walk are terrible ways to judge who you are or what you’ll do in the future. Yet millions and millions of dollars are being funneled into developing emotion-detection AI based on bunk science. I’ve publicly called out the major risks associated with fake emotion detection and biometric categorization before - it could be used to justify flawed hiring decisions or alert law enforcement officers to people based on completely false assumptions. I’m glad the EU is proposing tough new restrictions on technology that amounts to little more than digital palm reading.”

Wyden has led efforts in the Senate to guard against bias and misuse of AI technology, including authoring the Algorithmic Accountability Act and speaking on the need to act quickly against misuse of flawed automated decision systems.

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Press Contact: Keith Chu