Despite being an unloved technology, facial recognition has always been rather useful on Facebook. If you ever had to upload many photos to Facebook at once, from a party or event for example, then you know how handy automatic tagging can be.
Facebook has invested a lot of resources into continuous improvement of its facial recognition tech, and now it has gotten so good, it might not even need to see a face to recognise someone anymore!
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Also Read: Facebook Moments – The Photo App With Facial Recognition
The news was revealed by New Scientist who explained that Facebook’s AI team has developed a new recognition algorithm to identify people even when their faces cannot be seen clearly.
The new algorithm is reported to be using numerous (read hundreds) of characteristic cues to identify people. As an example, Yann LeCun, the head of the AI team, explained:
[quote](…)you can recognize Mark Zuckerberg very easily, because he always wears a gray T-shirt.[/quote]
This actually made me realise how true this can be. Most people can be defined by the clothes they wear, the way they move or dozens of other factors. After all, this is how our brain helps us recognise our friends even when we only see them from behind. Think about it.
Facebook claims that its experimental algorithm is already able to identify people with 83% accuracy, without a clear view on their face that is.
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This new tech could become very useful for end users, but it will no doubt also be very useful for Facebook itself, especially with the recent launch of its Moments standalone photo sharing app.
Of course, in our current times, one could also be slightly creeped out by such technology… or are we stepping in the world of Person of Interest?
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