Facebook's Experimental Algo For Facial Recognition Gets Smarter

[engine]

There's no question about it, the facial recognition technology is pretty good at identifying faces. Whilst it has its benefits, it also has a downside, and that is privacy.

Have you used the automated passport systems at country borders? I've used them, and it works, but does seem to be relatively slow, and does have some limitations.

There were other examples in the past where your face would be scanned and used by the system to deliver customised ads. [bbc.co.uk...] I've never actually seen that in action as i don't believe there's a location nearby me, but, as far as i';m aware, it's not actually identifying the individual. However, as AI improves, i'm sure this will become more commonplace.

I'm not keen on it.

An experimental algorithm out of Facebook's artificial intelligence lab can recognise people in photographs even when it can't see their faces. Instead it looks for other unique characteristics like your hairdo, clothing, body shape and pose.

Modern face-recognition algorithms are so good they've already found their way into social networks, shops and even churches. Yann LeCun, head of artificial intelligence at Facebook, wanted to see they could be adapted to recognise people in situations where someone's face isn't clear, something humans can already do quite well. Facebook's Experimental Algo For Facial Recognition Gets Smarter [newscientist.com]

The final algorithm was able to recognise individual people's identities with 83 per cent accuracy.

"If, even when you hide your face, you can be successfully linked to your identify, that will certainly concern people," says Ralph Gross at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who says the algorithm is impressive. "Now is a time when it's important to discuss these questions."

[ember]

Another reason not to be on FB. Or out in public.

[JS_Harris]

Exactly, if you don't use Facebook that's just one less data collection source that doesn't benefit you, or at least not as much as it does someone else's ambitions. Proof? I can recognize my friends just fine, I don't need Facebook for that.

I don't need Facebook to get better at prying my dollars from my wallet via improved ad performance tailored directly at me either, so I've come to realize that I'm better off unplugged from networks that go down this road completely. Take that with a grain of salt, I'm old enough to have grown up before email and cell phones, days I remember fondly.

Out in public, I'm not giving up on that just yet though :)

[chrisv1963]

Another reason not to be on FB. Or out in public.

This is another step towards more people leaving Facebook. It's amazing to see how Facebook is slowly destroying its own business model. A lot of my real life friends already stopped using Facebook because of privacy concerns and announcements like this only make things worse.

[marsradio]

Facebook (the Website) is dying on the vine. I'm sure that Facebook (the company) will continue to diversify with this sort of technology that they can just sell/lease/license to others. They need to make money somehow. I personally hate Facebook, and I can't wait to see it buried next to MySpace.

[incrediBILL]

I love the smell of paranoia in the summer.

Having just posted some of my school yearbook pages for my class online I found their facial recognition pretty lacking except for one kid who it got right every year but one by default, and it picked me out most of the time but not as much, but the rest of the class, pretty much nothing leaving me a lot of work to tag 'em all.

What I'd like is a facial recognition app that ties the thousands of faces I know to actual names, which I thought Google Glass would get and then Google banned it thanks to some cave dwellers that think we're stealing their soul or something.

I have a horrible time putting names to faces, I'll remember many people but those I don't see frequently, I'll never remember their name so if I walk up and say "Hey! How's it going! Long time!" then you know I forgot your damn name and I'm waiting for someone else to say it. Such software would be a huge boon to people with the same problem I have, we're a huge group, but thanks to the paranoids those of us with certain types of facial recall problems can't get the proper digital assistance we need.

It will come some day, until then, "Hey You! Long time..."'

[lucy24]

What level of accuracy? Is this identical to the level of accuracy that the users (of a given service, at a given time) expect?

"John! Turn around! I'd recognize that walk, that jacket, that haircut anywhere! Oh, oops, sorry, I thought you were someone else."

[Leosghost]

The correct photo, with the correct name, but the wrong person's details / bio is a problem..
Way too easy to be "tagged" as someone "unsavoury"..
The names of very few people are likely to be unique to them..

[devGirl]

I've seen it identify adults by (their) childhood photos. Very scary.

[engine]

Here's more on Facebook's "DeepFace" face recognition which was published last year. [research.facebook.com...]

Of course, Facebook is not the only company doing this - it's jest that Facebook appears to be the one with the ability to identify faces that are obscuured.