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Panelist: Cornelia Kutterer, Senior Director Digital Single Market Strategy, Microsoft.Moderator: Vicente Moret, Of Counsel at Andersen Tax & Legal for Commercial Law in the Madrid office.ObjectivesFacial recognition technology has come into our lives without us even realizing it. It is evident the rapid evolution and increase in availability and accuracy of this in recent years. Our smartphones use it, Spanish airports such as Menorca or Madrid already implement it and echoes from abroad of different uses arrive, not all of them positive.It is therefore necessary to analyse the latest advances in this technology and the possibilities and risks represented by its use. It is crucial to open a debate that analyzes the risks and opportunities of facial recognition and that governments take the lead in adopting laws to regulate this technology. Unless we act, we run the risk of waking up within five years to find that facial recognition services have spread in ways that exacerbate social problems. By then, these challenges will be much more difficult to address. The application of this technology represents a twist on fundamental rights, where privacy and even personal freedom can be undermined.Given the initial stage of facial recognition technology, it is clear that there are still many questions, many of them unanswered. This regulation should be based, like many of the principles that are being suggested from the public and private spheres in the field of artificial intelligence, on transparency, accountability, non-discrimination, consent, and legal oversight and fairness in its implementation.