Face Recognition Software weirds me out

[Robert Maxwell]

Sucks if you are one of a pair of identical twins...

This topic was making me wonder whether Facebook's face recognition software could easily distinguish between identical twins. It might be annoying to twins and their friends if they keep getting mis-tagged.

Yeah, you have to wonder how good it is at telling the difference. Identical twins may be genetically identical but usually there are physical differences, albeit subtle ones.

 

[Lindley]

Yeah, don't we have enough threads bitching about Facebook around here? I think it's far more interesting that facial recognition tech has become so practical it can be casually used by Facebook to tag photos. I think we may not be that far off from Minority Report-style ads, but they'll read your face rather than your eyes to figure out who you are.

As I said before, Facebook's software might be getting a significant accuracy boost by assuming faces are on your friends list (or within a few degrees of separation).

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yeah, don't we have enough threads bitching about Facebook around here? I think it's far more interesting that facial recognition tech has become so practical it can be casually used by Facebook to tag photos. I think we may not be that far off from Minority Report-style ads, but they'll read your face rather than your eyes to figure out who you are.

As I said before, Facebook's software might be getting a significant accuracy boost by assuming faces are on your friends list (or within a few degrees of separation).

Right, I think that's something that will start to become more prevalent. Let's face it, we tend to be creatures of habit. Say you walk into a grocery store, a camera snaps a picture of you as you walk in the door, another camera snaps a picture of you at checkout. When you scan your credit/debit card, it associates those photos with your name and what you bought. Every time you shop, a profile of your shopping habits is being expanded. And with facial-recognition built into it, cameras and speakers placed throughout the store can announce sales you might be interested in. "You bought Peter Pan peanut butter last week. Did you know it's on sale for $1 off this week? Check out Aisle 8!"

Chain stores can benefit even more from this, if they keep a centralized database and share data. Once you move up the chain into conglomerates that might touch dozens of industries, you are talking about building some highly sophisticated and detailed customer profiles, complete with the ability for a store to recognize you on sight and immediately know your shopping habits.

I think facial recognition systems with a relatively small match search space will become more and more affordable and common.

 

[Gepard]

Let's face it...

*rimshot*

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Let's face it...

*rimshot*

 

[RoJoHen]

As I said before, Facebook's software might be getting a significant accuracy boost by assuming faces are on your friends list (or within a few degrees of separation).

This goes without saying. It's not like Facebook is searching its entire database for the people in my photos. It's going to search the people that I am already friends with.

It still recognizes other faces, but if I'm not friends with them, it doesn't tag them. Instead, it prompts you with a "Who is this?"

 

[Finn]

Sucks if you are one of a pair of identical twins...

This topic was making me wonder whether Facebook's face recognition software could easily distinguish between identical twins. It might be annoying to twins and their friends if they keep getting mis-tagged.

Yeah, you have to wonder how good it is at telling the difference. Identical twins may be genetically identical but usually there are physical differences, albeit subtle ones.

It helps if one of them is buff and the other is obese.