Facial recognition

While the original concept for facial recognition was developed in the 1960s, the idea and technology has only become common in the past 10-15 years, with the growth of AI and machine learning capabilities.

Passports now include biometric data that underpin facial recognition. People use facial recognition to unlock their phones. And police and other authorities use the same technology to pick out and identify individuals in crowds — at public demonstrations, for example — via CCTV (closed circuit television) cameras.

Facial recognition technology determines unique characteristics and contours in a person's face and compares that information with images of other people's faces, either live (as it happens) or images stored in a database. Police used to do a similar job manually — AI makes the process faster and more extensive.

Advocates say facial recognition can help protect an individual's digital security and privacy. Critics say it's an invasive form of mass surveillance. Researchers have revealed racial biases and identification errors that have led to negative outcomes for groups of people. (za/fs)

 

Coming soon:

Frontier AI

Sources:

Facial Recognition (NordVPN) https://nordvpn.com/cybersecurity/glossary/facial-recognition/ (accessed October 17, 2023)

Facial Recognition: An Introduction (Institute for Internet and the Just Society) https://www.internetjustsociety.org/cosmonaut/facial-recognition-an-introduction (accessed October 17, 2023)

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Written and edited by: Zulfikar Abbany (za), Fred Schwaller (fs)