Face ID Camera Technology Changes How Businesses Approach Security

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(claudioscott, Pixabay)

20 September 2017. The new Apple iPhone X made a big splash in the tech community when it launched last week. Although the device was still evolution, rather than revolution, it was a showcase of all the technological wonders that can now be shoved inside an object no bigger than your hand.

Among the highlight features was the new Face ID technology: a technology which now allows people to unlock their phones just by looking at them. Facial recognition technology is now so sophisticated that it is able to recognize people automatically, without the need for human intervention.

Although the media focused on the consumer side of the story, the fact that AI is working its way into camera tech has serious implications for business IP surveillance too. For starters, the ability to recognize faces has the potential to significantly reduce the overhead associated with checking people in and out of office buildings. Smart cameras could potentially provide access to buildings to those with the correct clearance, removing the need for posting security or a reception desk. What’s more, companies could segment access to various parts of the building based on a person’s role. Employees, for instance, could be blocked from accessing mission-critical areas, like the company servers or records of account.

Then there’s the anti-crime factor. Facial recognition cameras set up in business could be linked to police databases. Companies could monitor known criminals in the vicinity of their stores automatically, enabling them to direct their security resources to prevent theft. Retail stores, in particular, stand to benefit a great deal. With facial recognition cameras, they can keep track of potential threats and eliminate them before they result in loss of stock.

The MIT Technology Review has recently suggested that we’re only at the beginning of facial recognition technology – and that’s a problem. The concern at the moment is that computer facial recognition systems aren’t analogous to those of humans. Whereas people would never mistake a brick for a face, this isn’t out of the realm of possibility for facial recognition software.

The fundamental problem has to do with the way that these systems work. Although they now have similar accuracy to people – making mistakes around 5 percent of the time – the severity of those errors can be extreme. Because machines lack an understanding of context, they’re often not able to determine whether their answers make sense. A machine might conclude that a face in a picture is something radically different to what it actually is, whereas a person would not.

One thing is for sure: businesses will use this capability to streamline their operations and free up labor for other tasks. Not only will companies be able to segment their digital networks, but also their physical operations too – and at low cost.

Technology will continue to get better, and at a rapid clip,. With the addition of iris, fingerprint and face recognition, the number of mistakes made by facial recognition cameras will decline, as systems collaborate to perform accurate identification of personnel and potential criminal threats.

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