Everyone spends approximately 6 months of their lives waiting in line for something. A big part of these lines is either because you need to identify yourself or because you need to pay for something. Face recognition could be the solution to make these two things a lot faster and therewith reduce waiting times.
Face recognition is used more and more in different segments. For unlocking your phone for recognizing criminals and in parts of china even to check who is crossing the street on a red light. Now supermarkets are also starting to make use of face recognition technology.
In china paying with your face is already adapted in certain regions. You scan your face and it directly links it to your payment account. Now in the Netherlands Albert Heijn is testing a new supermarket idea. You first scan your face when you walk in. The cameras in the store then recognize what groceries you are taking. And you can pay at the entrance. In this pilot, you still need to tap your bank card to pay, whereas in china it directly links your face to your bank account. If this would be adapted in all supermarkets, waiting for the check out will be over and cashiers are unnecessary.
If you can use your face to identify yourself, check inns in hotels, airports, or companies would go much faster and easier. At a hotel, you could skip the reception and just check in the room with your face. And at the airport, showing your face would be enough to make sure you have a valid passport and ticket. This technology can be widely adopted in different sectors and can make a lot of lives easier.
References:
www.logisticsmgepsupv.wordpress.com/2017/04/04/how-much-time-of-an-average-life-is-spent-waiting
www.facefirst.com/blog/amazing-uses-for-face-recognition-facial-recognition-use-cases
Hi Demi!
Interesting post! Although I agree with you that facial recognition will increase the speed of services and, therefore, decrease the amount of customer waiting time, I personally think that there could arise certain privacy issues along with this development. Taking into account the commotion around Cambridge Analytica and Facebook in 2016, one could argue that a lot of people are very protective of their privacy. Consequently, they may want to refrain from companies and supermarkets with facial recognition in order to avoid the ‘big brother is watching’ feeling.
However, as with every new technology, people need time to get used to it. An important part in this adjustment period is the introduction to the technology. The uproar around Cambridge Analytica and Facebook was mainly due to the fact that people were not explicitly informed beforehand about the way their data was collected and used. Thus, I think that these techniques will only be truly beneficial if the public has a great understanding of the advantages the technology brings for them beforehand. Otherwise, I am afraid that they will create an aversion towards companies that are using these kind of technologies.
An option to introduce facial recognition could be to give customers of supermarkets the choice to pay via this technology. The store would still need to offer traditional payment methods for the more conservative customers. In this way, mostly ‘open-minded’ people will voluntarily experience the benefits themselves and, possibly, if they are truly convinced about the convenience this technology offers, start word-of-mouth advertising. This may eventually convince the more conservative customers to use facial recognition in the future.
Kind regards,
Rowan
Interesting blog post.
This technology can make our lives a lot faster and easier like you mentioned but there are also some scary consequences attached to this technology.
You mentioned China, in China (Hong Kong) protestors are being recognized by facial recognition software. This means the police knows exactly who was protesting and who to arrest. In other dangerous situations this is a good tactic but in this situation, with malicious intent, it is not good.
What are the biggest risk associated with this technology?
Hi Demi.
Thanks for you interesting insights on the advantages of facial recognition. I agree with you, that facial recognition could make our lives a lot easier. However, we have to be careful, adopting these technologies. As you already mentioned, China is able to check people’s behavior, using AI technology,
Although it seems to be a harmless development, China is also using this type of technology in a very unethical way. In the north-west of China, authorities are using a vast, secret system of advanced facial recognition technology to track and control the Uighurs, a large Muslims minority. This makes China a pioneer in applying next-generation technology to watch its people, potentially ushering in a new era of automated racism.
In conclusion, facial recognition is able to make lives easier, but it is important to use emerging technologies in an ethical way.