Facial recognition (脸部识别) cameras are everywhere, including in your smartphone. Many people use this technology to unlock their phones, open doors or pay quickly, but there is a problem – everyone is wearing masks. What a hassle!
Now, the companies have improved their technology. Facial recognition technology can now know people even if they are wearing a mask. Beijing-based tech company Hanwang has announced a software (软件) which can correctly recognize 95 percent 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.
Facial recognition software is about more than just unlocking your phone. It's about public safety. For example, you don't need to take an ID card, which can be lost or stolen. It also means that virus (病毒) isn't spread by touching things, said NEC's Shinya Takeshima. "Touchless check has become very important to COVID-19," he said to Reuters. "We hope to do something for safety and peace of mind."
More than that, facial recognition can be used to fight crime. "It can tell criminals and terrorists," said Huang Lei, one of Hanwang's leaders. Hanwang's technology is used by police in high-security (安全等级高的) settings. This means places like government buildings, subway stations and airports. Similar technology is used by the United States Air Force and other governments.
Huang talks about 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.
