The tech company has been in the news lately but all for the wrong reasons. It recently announced a major improvement made by its AI experts on the facial recognition program called “Rekognition”. The software can now detect fear as an emotion. Facial recognition technology has been present for decades. However, it has now become more prevalent in usage. It has gone from simply identifying a person from an image or video to innovations. It specializes in identity authentication and personalized photo applications.
Rekognition Can Now Detect Fear Based on Facial Analysis
Human versus Robot
It’s no secret that research and development in the field of artificial intelligence have already progressed in leaps and bounds. These innovations are now shaping and influencing the present way of life. Although, some experts would disagree, at least when it comes to facial recognition software. UC Berkeley researchers published a study in February declaring that, “programs offered by tech companies generally analyze each face in isolation.” They further discussed that, “for a person to accurately read someone else’s emotions in a video requires paying attention to not just their face but also their body language and surroundings.” They also analyzed that while there are scientific links and correlations between emotions and facial expressions, communicating them still varies among different cultures and situations. A single expression may mean more than one emotion. “It is not possible to confidently infer happiness from a smile, anger from a scowl, or sadness from a frown, as much of current technology tries to do when applying what are mistakenly believed to be scientific facts,” experts say.
Issues and Concerns
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also performed a test. On this test, it compared photos of American politicians against Rekognition’s mugshot database. The result came with 28 false matches, mostly African-American and Latino people.
