Facial recognition is only the beginning — cameras can use emotion to predict behaviour

• The Indian government is rolling out National Automated Facial Recognition System (NAFRS) that will automate the police procedures.
  
• NAFRS is a national-level project where police departments will be able to use a digital database of facial images to identify suspected criminals.
  
• But cameras can do so much more. They can be used to authenticate banking transactions, unlock smartphones, and even read emotions to predict behaviour.
  
  

Even after facing a backlash, the Indian government is rolling out National Automated Facial Recognition System (NAFRS) that will automate the police procedures. It can help them match suspects’ photos with stored images.

NAFRS is a national-level project where police departments will be able to use a digital database of facial images to identify suspected criminals. But there’s no law to regulate this technology. In the absence of laws to govern its use, the technology can undermine a citizen’s right to privacy.

Once introduced, NAFRS will become the world’s largest facial recognition system, processing up to 10 million facial images. Human rights groups and researchers asked companies to refrain from selling facial recognition technology to governments as it could lead to increased surveillance.

Is Facial recognition the next big thing?

Facial recognition has become a popular surveillance tool. The technology was used by Hyderabad airport to verify passengers. It is widely used by secret agencies across the world to track spies.

But there’s so much more that a camera can do more than just identify faces. It can be used to authenticate banking transactions, unlock smartphones, and even read emotions to predict behaviour.

The general parameters that contribute to classifying emotions are readings from physiological sensors and patterns obtained from standard input devices. But the most widely used parameter is readings obtained using video and depth sensors.

“Advanced Deep learning algorithms and computer vision techniques are used on images and videos to classify these emotions quite accurately,” writes Agata Kolakowska in a research paper titled Emotion Recognition and Its Applications.

The applications of emotion reading technologies is not limited to finding criminals. It can help big businesses monitor their target consumer and read their behaviour.

A UK firm WeSee claims to have the AI technology that can spot unusual behaviour by reading facial expressions.

A similar tool was created by Russian firm to identify people in a crowd and detect whether they were nervous, stressed or angry. The emotion reading technology was created to detect suspicious behaviour using age, gender and emotional state of the person. According to NTechLab, the company which created the software, these softwares could be used to prevent criminal activities even before happening, reported the Telegraph UK.

While it is widely recognized that it is a breakthrough technology, it can be misused for a variety of reasons including high margin of error.

See also:
India starts listing sex offenders as a part of a digital database