Face recognition AI can now identify criminals by face

Imagine you are scrolling through your Facebook feed. You come across a bunch of photos that your friend had uploaded, after his summer vacation with his family. You click on some of the pictures, curious to see what they are on about. As you switch through images, moving your cursor over the picture, you see that Facebook brings up an automatic tagging feature. A square box appears over the face of your friend, asking if you would like to tag him on the picture.

This is just one example of how AI based visual computing is revolutionizing the way facial recognition is done in the future.

How facial recognition works

An average person with a job and commuting to and fro between destinations every day will be leaving some kind of visual footprint around town. It might be when he is queuing in line in his office canteen or when he is rushing on the escalator at the metro station or even when he is on the road, waiting for the traffic signals to change. Anywhere he goes, he can be assured that there are a set of CCTV cameras recording his presence at any given point of the day.

Artificial intelligence can change this seemingly random piece of visual imageries into a gold mine of facial recognition data. This futuristic software can use the existing data and compare it with crime scenes. It can further detect similarities based on facial measurements and making calculations within a fraction of a second.

This is invaluable on two counts - One, it makes the work of the police much easier and two, it greatly expedites the process of investigation and can help in nabbing the criminals before they plan their escape.

The accuracy of the AI claims to recognition

As with all artificial intelligence models, more data means more accuracy. And with hundreds of thousands of visual images being processed every day across a city, it is entirely possible for high accuracy of facial recognition.

An Israeli startup named Faception has gone on record, mentioning that their facial analysis technology will be used by a leading homeland security agency. Their software is believed to be used to identify terrorists and other anti-social elements, purely through facial analysis. This is done by analyzing 15 parameters of personality traits and characteristics.

The software was extensively used during the 2015 Paris terror attacks, with the system identifying 9 out of the 11 terrorists involved. This is crucial because only 3 out of the 11 had verified criminal records before the night of the attack.

Future of facial recognition technology

The consequences of facial recognition software are quite diverse. We could be looking towards a state where crimes could be avoided by analyzing facial emotions in the future. It could give rise to a society devoid of crime, like the one in the movie, Minority Report. Artificial intelligence definitely has the potential to make that scenario into reality.

Original article: Face recognition AI can now identify criminals by face at AI Hub for Organizations - Machian Future