For some time now, we've had apps that can learn to
recognize your face, and unlock your phone.
Or pick you out in a photo.
But what happens when this same technology is used to pick you out in a crowd,
or track your movements,
or even make a judgement call on what str of person you are?
Facial recognition is attracting more and more attention for its potential downsides,
and for good reason.
No-one likes a technology that potentially threatens
what's important to them,
including their safety, their autonomy, and even their liberty.
But navigating the risks and ethics of facial recognition can be tricky.
For instance, facial recognition tech that can benefit you as an individual
would seem to make sense.
Unlocking your phone, say,
or proving you are, indeed, who you say you are.
But what if the tech only works for some people, and not for others?
If your face doesn't fit the tech, would that be fair?
Especially if we get to the point where your face becomes your passport
To purchasing groceries, boarding planes,
or even voting!
OK, so this doesn't sound so good.
But what if we eventually have apps that use facial recognition
to tell us when we're getting sick for instance,
or when we're mentally run down,
or even when we need to seek help from others?
This could be a really boon for helping us stay healthy and well.
Unless, of course, you only get advice you can trust
if you have the right skin color,
or just the right facial features.
Challenges like this can be overcome if developers are as responsible as possible
in avoiding bias in facial recognition apps,
and develop them to work equally well for all users.
But what happens when bias becomes a feature, rather than a flaw?
Imagine, for instance, an app that claims to be able to tell if you;'re lying,
or you've committed a crime ... or that you might commit one,
just by scanning your face.
Now imagine that this app gets things wrong,
or it reflects the biases of the people who created it,
so that if they think you look like a liar, or a law breaker,
this is what the app confirms.
And imagine that this app was then used by employers and law enforcement
as judge and jury!
In this way, facial recognition has the potential to re-enforce
our very human biases and prejudices
rather than reducing them.
This is a big issue in how facial recognition is used,
and one that it's going to take a great deal of care to avoid.
And it's only going to be compounded If the technology ends up
being used to monitor our every move,
no matter where we are, and what we're doing.
But beyond bias, what if there were ways in which facial recognition
could tell us more about ourselves than is possible
with our human senses alone?
For example, what if we had an app that could simply scan a crowd of people
and tell who has cancer,
who's struggling with mental illness,
who's sad, who's happy, and who is ...
persuadable!
I'm edging into speculative territory here,
but researchers are actively researching how facial recognition
can reveal what is otherwise hidden to us,
and how this can be used, just from photos and video of people.
In some cases, this might actually be beneficial.
But capabilities like this also come with some really large questions
around who has the right to analyze you without your consent,
especially if they then use the information for their benefit ...
... not yours.
And it opens the door to social manipulation
where your face becomes the key to somebody else's success.
The bottom line here is that
while there are many potential benefits to facial recognition,
there are also a lot of ethical hurdles to overcome
if the tech is to be developed and used responsibly.
And here, we should all have a say In how the technology's used
and how it is not!
For more information on the risks and ethics of facial recognition,
do check the blurb below.
And as always, stay safe.