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Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jbady runs a huge business that generated $ 26 billion in revenue last year.
One of its newest products, Rekognition, a facial recognition software, has recently caused outrageous controversy for Amazon's cloud computing unit.
So, Jbady said he would like to see a federal regulation that would indicate how technology should – and should not – be used.
"I wish they hurry. "If not, you'll have 50 different laws in 50 different states," Jbady told Kara Swisher of Recode on Monday during an interview with the Conference Code in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Amazon's discovery software enables its customers, including businesses and law enforcement agencies, to match photos and videos to databases containing photos, such as criminals, in real time.
This has led to indignation both inside and outside of Amazon. Hundreds of Amazon employees have called on AWS, along with civil liberties groups and lawmakers, to make their recognition known to the police, ICE and other agencies. law enforcement, for fear of misuse of powerful technology.
Example: Last summer, the ACLU tested the Rekognition software and found that it incorrectly matched 28 members of Congress with clichés about people who had committed a crime. False correspondences disproportionately involve members of Congress who are people of color. Amazon said that the ACLU had used the wrong parameter for the software.
Amazon has since introduced the proposed ethical principles for the use of facial recognition, and has declared support for calls for national legislation related to technology.
Jbady reiterated this position Monday. But he said Amazon would continue to sell the software.
"It's not because the technology could be misused that we should ban it and condemn it," he said.
He compared the technology to other elements that could be misused: an e-mail, with a reference to the hacking of Sony's messaging system several years ago.
And … a knife.
"You can use a knife discreetly," he said.
Amazon employees asked questions to technology managers at a meeting of all staff in the fall. Jbady told them that even though he thought that a lot of opinions on the subject was "excellent", the company was pleased with the technology and the customers who used it.
He reiterated this position Monday night, claiming that one of Amazon's leadership principles is "Have the spine; not agree and commit. "
Translation: We heard your objection, employees. But we do not agree.
Recode and Vox have joined forces to discover and explain how our digital world is changing – and changing us. Subscribe to Recode podcasts to hear Kara Swisher and Peter Kafka lead the tough discussions that the technology industry needs today.
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