Facial recognition cameras are everywhere. Many people rely on this technology to unlock their phones open doors or make quick payments, but there is a problem :Everyone is wearing masks. What a hassle!
Now, tech companies have updated their software. Facial recognition technology can now recognize people even if they are wearing a mask. Beijing-based tech company Hanwang has announced a software that can correctly recognize 95% of people wearing masks, Engineering & Technology (E&T) reported. What's the secret? It's all about your eyes.
Marios Savvides, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, US, studies facial recognition technology. As we get older, he said, our faces change shape, but not the area around our eyes. It stays the same -even if we put on weight. Another company, Geneva-based Tech5, has also been working on this kind of software. It has AI that measures the shape of your face. It also scans your irises(虹膜)and hopes to ignore all of the face below the nose. Japan's NEC Corp. claims an astonishing 99.9% accuracy rate when identifying people with masks. The UK's Metropolitan Police Service has been approved to buy and use NEC Corp.'s facial recognition technology, Forbes reported.
Facial recognition software is about more than just unlocking your phone. It's about public safety. For example, you don't need to present an ID card, which can be lost or stolen. It also means that germs aren't spread by touching things, said has NEC's Shinya Takeshima."Touchless verification(验证）has become extremely important due to COVID-19,"he said to Reuters.
"We hope to contribute to safety and peace of mind."
More than that, facial recognition can be used to fight crime. "It can detect crime suspects and terrorists,"said Huang Lei, Hanwang's vice president. Hanwang's technology is used by the police in high-security settings, Reuters reported. This means places like government buildings, subway stations and airports. Similar technology is used by the United States Air Force and other governments.
Huang Lei admits one big weakness of this technology: It fails when people wear both a mask and sunglasses."In this situation, all of the key facial information is lost, "Huang said to E&T.
