Most people are comfortable with facial recognition for its use in Instagram filters and Face ID. But this relatively new technology can feel a little creepy. Your face is like a fingerprint, and the technology behind facial recognition is complex.
As with any new technology, there are downsides to facial recognition. These downsides are becoming more apparent as the military, the police, advertisers, and deepfake creators, find devious new ways to take advantage of facial recognition software.
Now, more than ever, it’s essential for people to understand how facial recognition works. It’s also important to know the limitations of facial recognition and how it will develop in the future.
Facial Recognition Is Surprisingly Simple
Before getting into the many different mediums for facial recognition, it’s important to understand how the process of facial recognition works. Here are three applications for facial recognition software, and a simple explanation for how they recognize or identify faces:
- Basic Facial Recognition: For Animoji and Instagram filters, your phone camera “looks” for the defining features of a face, specifically a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Then, it uses algorithms to lock onto a face and determine which direction it’s looking, if its mouth is open, etc. It’s worth mentioning that this isn’t facial identification, it’s just software looking for faces.
- Face ID and Similar Programs: Upon setting up Face ID (or similar programs) on your phone, it takes a photo of your face and measures the distance between your facial features. Then, every time you go to unlock your phone, it “looks” through the camera to measure and confirm that your identity.
- Identifying a Stranger: When an organization wants to identify a face for security, advertising, or policing purposes, it uses algorithms to compare that face to an extensive database of faces. This process is nearly identical to Apple’s Face ID but on a larger scale. Theoretically, any database could be used (ID cards, Facebook profiles), but a database of clear, pre-identified photos is ideal.
Alright, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. Because the “basic facial recognition” used for Instagram filters is such a simple and harmless process, we’re going to focus entirely on facial identification, and the many different technologies that can be used to identify a face.
Most Facial Recognition Relies on 2D Images
As you’d expect, most facial recognition software relies entirely on 2D images. But this isn’t done because 2D facial imaging is super accurate, it’s done for the sake of convenience. The overwhelming majority of cameras take photos without any depth, and public photos that can be used for facial recognition databases (Facebook profile pictures, for example) are all in 2D.
Why isn’t 2D facial imaging super accurate? Well, because a flat image of your face lacks identifying features, like depth. With a flat image, a computer can measure your pupillary distance, and width of your mouth, among other variables. But it can’t tell the length of your nose or the prominence of your forehead.
Additionally, 2D facial imaging relies on the visible light spectrum. This means that 2D facial imaging doesn’t work in the dark, and it can be unreliable in funky or shadowy lighting conditions.
Clearly, the way around some of these shortcomings is to use 3D facial imaging. But how is that possible? Do you need special equipment to see a face in 3D?
IR Cameras Add Depth to Your Identity
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Source : How Does Facial Recognition Work?
