There are some that believe facial recognition will take over our lives. It is nothing new; however, it is becoming more prevalent in our everyday lives. The use of facial recognition technology has been seen in crime dramas to catch many killers for decades now. Only recently has facial recognition become a more common feature in our lives.
Replacing Passwords
Apple announced that the new iPhone X would feature Face ID, Apple’s facial recognition tech. Understandably people were a bit freaked out because anything new is always scary at first. Apple assures users that the technology is exceptionally secure and unlikely to unlock your phone for someone else. As someone who isn’t a huge Apple fan, this doesn’t affect me much. However, I have been using a computer with Windows 10 Hello facial recognition for quite so time now, and it is incredibly convenient. You don’t have to type in your password every time you turn on your computer. Windows opens to the lock screen, sees you, says, “Hello,” and you get right to work. In my opinion, facial recognition is a great modern alternative to passwords that is slowly being integrated into popular devices.
Fun Stuff
Facial recognition isn’t just for security purposes. Entertainment benefits as well. Hollywood has been using facial recognition in the way of tracking facial movements of actors to transpose onto computer-generated characters (CGI). Apple announced that the iPhone X would feature “animojis” that track the face onto a shareable 3D emoji. Snapchat has also jumped onto the facial recognition bandwagon wanting to use it with their popular Bitmoji avatars.
Conspiracy?
There are some people out there that believe facial recognition is just a tool for the government to be more aware of and in control of everyone’s lives. This sentiment is entirely understandable considering that governments have a history of phone tapping and many other spying methods on the public. Honestly, I think facial recognition is a step in the right direction to furthering tech into the imagined future that we see in all those fantastic Sci-Fi movies.
