#199 – Faceprint: Power of Convenience

Facial recognition (FR) technology seems to be everywhere these days. Some of the best-known uses are also the most controversial, namely when the cameras and back-end AI are deployed for security and law enforcement purposes. There are, however, a growing number of applications that are focused more on providing specific benefits to consumers, such as a system designed to streamline the often-congested boarding process at airports. Apple brought FR to the masses with the introduction of Face ID in its popular iPhone X, and companies such as Google and Facebook have also been weaving FR into their product offerings through features such as automatically tagging people in photographs.

 

In the US, however, FR has a long history of clashing with privacy issues, and many people still have concerns about how it is used (especially when used by the government in surveillance applications). This, however, could be changing. China has seen a much faster adaptation of FR applications in public, largely owing to the country’s more lenient attitudes towards personal privacy. Perhaps driven by national pride, US and European companies have been trying to gain a lead over China by implementing a variety of commercial uses. Webrain believes that FR will likely follow the longtime model of military and governmental applications finding their way to commercial implementations, with FR applications growing in sophistication while becoming more affordable. The technological ability of FR to capture the unique nature of a faceprint is the beginning of faster, cheaper, and more personalized access to products and services. Webrain calls this Faceprint – the Power of Convenience. As consumer behavior evolves to more fully embrace the benefits and conveniences that can be unlocked through the user’s faceprint, is your company positioned to leverage this compelling technology?