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Computers Outperform Humans at Recognizing Faces

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the come-a-long-way dept.

seven of five writes "According to the recent Face Recognition Grand Challenge, The match up of face-recognition algorithms showed that machine recognition of human individuals has improved tenfold since 2002 and a hundredfold since 1995. 'Among other advantages, 3-D facial recognition identifies individuals by exploiting distinctive features of a human face's surface--for instance, the curves of the eye sockets, nose, and chin, which are where tissue and bone are most apparent and which don't change over time. Furthermore, Phillips says, "changes in illumination have adversely affected face-recognition performance from still images. But the shape of a face isn't affected by changes in illumination." Hence, 3-D face recognition might even be used in near-dark conditions.'"

2 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Great, now commercialize it.. by QuantumG · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's really annoying how much of this research never gets turned into product.. or, worse yet, it gets embedded in some proprietary piece of shit hardware instead of being released as a reusable component. I'd love to add some good facial recognition to my pet robot, but I'm not buying your watt sucking camera.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:Great, now commercialize it.. by zCyl · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Will somebody please explain to me why every time some new way to do anything that would involve identifying people, it's an invasion of privacy? I mean honestly, why are you so afraid?

      The freedom of assembly is what's at stake, and it in turn is essential for a free democracy. If the government can track the movements of innocent people, then it can monitor the organizations and associations (including political) that one is associated with. And if the government has the power to document the members of every rival political movement as it is forming, including all the other activities of the members, then they have the power to intimidate and crush it. (Don't believe me? Find a history book.)

      Privacy from the government is a key component of freedom, because it places serious constraints on the government's power over the people. Without this, you can very easily become a subject rather than a free citizen.