Facial Recognition AI Being Programmed to Find Criminals

Do you look like a criminal? If so, you might need to start being a bit careful. An AI is in development which, if found to work correctly, may be used to fight crime through the use of facial recognition.

Facial Recognition to track criminals

At first thought, this might seem a little far-fetched, yet is it really? Most petrol stations can easily determinate if your car is taxed, has a MOT and, in general, is not of interest to the police. It really isn’t that much further to say that facial recognition technology could be used to track criminals. In a report by the FT, reports suggest that the Chinese government is programming an AI to do exactly this.

This hopefully, is an improvement on suicidal security robots.

How are they going to do this?

I might say something that will shock you now, but China doesn’t really care much for civil liberties. Reports suggest that the Chinese government has, for years, been soliciting every facial picture it can get its hands on the internet to help program facial recognition AI.

I’m not saying it’s likely that your Facebook snap of you drunk, dancing in the street, wearing nothing but a banana costume has gone through, but then, I can’t rule it out either.

While the methods are questionable, the application is of some interest. For example, given the widespread use of CCTV throughout the world, such an AI system could be invaluable. A criminal, if caught in the act on video, could potentially not be safe anywhere. Some will undoubtedly question the civil liberties in this, however, no one could deny the impact this could have on the criminal system.

There are of course some limitations to this and I daresay those fending off a Big Brother state will not welcome this news.

The best advice I can offer is to simply use a false moustache. Problem solved, AI neutralised. Skynet loses.