David Wong an American Humor Writer once said “New technology is not good or evil in and of itself. It’s all about how people choose to use it”.

One of the promising use cases for Facial recognition is Facial Authentication and Security, where users no longer need to remember passwords or pin numbers which theoretically makes user accounts safer. Ensuring that the technology is used properly is of great importance, especially with the recent news of unauthorized data usage of Facebook users, etc. Other use cases include Helping the blind identify facial reactions(smiling, frowning) of people they communicate with, assisting in investigations, employing more secure financial transactions, and making air travel safer and more convenient.

https://www.datadriveninvestor.com/2020/08/28/tech-is-the-market-top-dog/

Google’s SVP Kent Walker stated that “Facial recognition technology has benefits in areas like new assistive technologies and tools to help find missing persons, with more promising applications on the horizon,” Walker writes. “However, like many technologies with multiple uses, facial recognition merits careful consideration to ensure its use is aligned with our principles and values, and avoids abuse and harmful outcomes…” . Areas of concern include user privacy, cybersecurity, autonomous weapons, etc. AI is an exciting field and there are new innovations every week, but we must also be conscious about the possible outcomes from the technology we create.

Some argue that it is a destruction of individuals right to privacy. It allows parties who control the facial image data to access other private data about the individual like location and residency. Governments with this technology can track all information about a person as well as all their activities. In the cities of China there are extremely accurate facial recognition cameras that every street and corner that keeps constant surveillance of its citizens.

Police Departments around the country have started incorporating facial recognition technology in their investigative processes. On one hand this can help them catch criminals more quickly, however the technology is still not perfect and there have been many situations where the police have been led to arrest the wrong individuals because the technology provided incorrect results. Also its accuracy is highly dependent on race and ethnicity. Women of differing ethnic backgrounds than white, are more likely to be mis-categorized as men.

The U.S is going through a civil rights unrest because police are killing Black Americans for unjustifiable reasons at alarming rates and they often not held accountable. Many individuals are standing up against Police Brutality and protests have erupted all across the nation. With Facial recognition there is a concern about officials targeting protesters to arrest and make examples of. This is a genuine concern as several departments across the nation have already done this. Some cities and whole states are looking to ban the use of facial recognition tech among police departments because of the possibilities of misuse. While this happens protestors have found ways to obfuscate their faces in ways that throws off the detection mechanisms of the cameras.

Microsoft has taken it upon themselves to lead the way regarding regulations for Facial recognition software and AI in general. In 2010 Microsoft developed a great suite of Machine learning and AI services that allow large corporations, small teams, and to solo developers alike to utilize these tools simply by accessing Microsoft Cognitive Services Api’s.

There are six main clauses Identified by Microsoft which determine ethical usage of the facial recognition software. They include Fairness, Transparency, Accountability, Non-discrimination, Notice and Consent, and Lawful Surveillance. In addition to the clauses there is a continuous vetting process to ensure these guidelines are met.

Google has been developing its own facial recognition technology for a while, but last year it announced that it will not be releasing its newly developed facial recognition technology to the public anytime soon, not until solid regulatory measures are first in place.

Timnit Gebru, a leader of Google’s ethical artificial intelligence team, explained why she believes that facial recognition is too dangerous to be used right now for law enforcement purposes. These are edited excerpts from our virtual discussion at the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society on Monday.

Moving forward we must be cautious of the advancement and wide-spread adoption of Facial Recognition and other technologies that have great promise and applicability, but could also have detrimental consequences due to misuse dishonest/incompetent parties or parties that do not grasp the full impact.

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Website: gabrielnyante.com

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References:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/facial-recognition-google_n_869583

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/facial-recognition-apple-amazon-google-and-the-race-for-your-face-facebook/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/08/19/facial-recognition-technology-here-are-the-important-pros-and-cons/#5e7160a214d1

https://ai.google/responsibilities/facial-recognition/

The Future of Augmented Reality ?

Augmented reality usage has grown tremendously these last few years because of growing use cases and accessibility. This is partially due to impacts of the covid pandemic which limited people’s ability to congregate. The costs of the technology are lowering greatly and it is accessible on almost modern smart phone.

According to the experts, the Augmented Reality market could be worth $122 billion by 2024. According to experts the healthcare industry will generate revenue of $5 billion, by 2025 and insiders are expecting that AR will make the most advancements in this industry. This article provides some examples:

https://medicalfuturist.com/augmented-reality-in-healthcare-will-be-revolutionary/

https://medicalfuturist.com/augmented-reality-in-healthcare-will-be-revolutionary/

The Travel industry has had a lot of disruption due to covid, and 42% of industry insiders believe that AR and VR is the future of tourism.

Below is an interesting Ted talk video that displays a glimpse of the future through an Augmented Reality Headset, it will give you the understanding of how augmented reality might work in the future.

What is the Impact of Augmented Reality in our society ?

The major sectors are Education, Gaming, Designing, Health and Medical and many more.

Education: Education is now becoming more technology oriented after the pandemic happened. AR and VR has been shown to be extremely engaging for students when learning and improves memory.

Military Training: AR is now being used in military training too. AR is used in practice for warfare and will soon be applied to actual warfare. The US military recently contracted a large number of Hololens devices from Microsoft to assist soldiers in training and combat.

Engineering Design: In Engineering Design, augmented reality is used for creating models of the building or project, with this we can expect how it will look when it’s made. Augmented reality will save us much time and money for creating models.

Shopping: Everyone is buying products online and augmented reality is very helpful for visually displaying products because people are more likely to buy products if they can test it.

Gaming: The gaming popularity is growing exponentially and now some people want to live the game rather than playing it. With these growing demands, game companies are also engaged in using technology to meet the demand of their customers.

Healthcare/Medical: In the healthcare industry, Augmented Reality is very useful for Doctors, Medical students and professionals.

Augmented reality is used to train health professionals and students on methods of treatment without using dolls and bodies which is also very cost effective.

Some applications & Devices for AR experience:

Here are some of the applications that you can use in your daily life and get glimpse of Augmented Reality:

Snapchat — Snapchat is a multimedia messaging application. It is known for its trendy and catchy filters. This app detects the user’s face with the help of Artificial Intelligence. Then these filters are digitally overlaid to the user’s face. The imposing filter looks original. And it happens with the help of augmented reality and artificial intelligence.

Hololens — Hololens is developed by Microsoft. It allows users to operate gadgets by looking at the screen levitating in front of us. To establish a simple user machine interface, it employs features like head tracking, voice command, gesture command etc. AR makes the use of several environment understanding sensors. Hololens is a very good example of Augmented Reality.

Google ARCore — Google ARCore is one of the best mobile applications that supports augmented reality. It makes the use of motion tracking, environmental tracking and light estimation to place 3d objects in the physical world.

Google Glass — Google Glass is a gadget which doesn’t require holding a phone. It allows users to access the phone virtually with the help of voice commands and gestures. It can be connected to Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and can perform various operations like manage phone calls and messages, access the internet, take photos etc.