DeepFace is a facial-recognition software created by a group of researchers at Facebook. What does DeepFace do? Have you ever wondered why after uploading a picture to Facebook and you start tagging people, it already knows who is in the picture? The reason for that is the DeepFace Software. This software that can identify who is in a picture based on their facial features, and it’s pretty darn accurate. Researchers say that the software is 97.25 percent accurate, which is nearly as good as humans who test at 97.53 percent accuracy. They started rolling out the technology to users in the beginning of 2015, but you better believe there is more behind the software than just being able to tag your friend in a photo effortlessly. On this wiki I plan on covering why Facebook invested so much in the facial recognition software and how it actually works. I will also investigate following questions regarding DeepFace and Facebook. I will also investigate if Faecebook really intends to use the tool to drive traffic to their site and increase revenue based on specific advertising, or if they plan on researching and developing further AI tools. I will also report on how government will limit or has limited this capability already, and how these advances in facial recognition. Further I will investigate how AI tools will personally affect our lives. One of the things that interests me most that I will discuss is what type of markets will use this technology if made available and what the potential possibilities would be for this technology as it advances.
What are Facebook’s intentions for DeepFace and how does it work?
Zuckerberg appears to hold good intentions. A lot of time and effort from him go towards providing internet access to remote locations. It is possible that Zuckerberg has alternate motives than good conscience in this situation. With the government benefitting so much from such a technology is it ridiculous to think Zuckerberg is ignoring the rights of Facebook users. Facebook has created a software that is nearly as accurate as humans are when it comes to identifying faces. How, you might ask? Software developer Kirk Kaiser describes it like this, “Every time somebody takes a photo of you or you upload a photo of yourself, it’s added to the training data set that exists in the ether of who and what you are” (Sharpe). Most would agree that Facebook has the largest collection of photos. The terrifying thing is, they now also have the capability to identify almost every face in those photos. DeepFace uses 2D and 3D models of the face in each photo. Deep learning technology works in four stages: detect, align, represent and classify. Essentially, the artificial intelligence is recognizing the small features that make up an object or a single piece of text and then putting them together to create a map of the whole thing. DeepFace takes the aligning and representing stages one step further. Using a three-dimensional model of an average human being, the software positions the face to look forward. Then, a numerical description of the reoriented face is calculated using a simulated neural network.
Computer Scientist and Director of Facebook’s artificial intelligence research, Yann LeCun, explained that it is not their intention to invade Facebook users’ privacy, but to help protect it. He goes on to explain that Facebook will notify you any time a picture is posted of you--including strangers’ photographs--at that point you can choose to blur your face out of the photo in order to protect your privacy (Bohannon). Currently, the software provides certain suggestions on which of your Facebook friends should be tagged in your photos after uploading it to your page, but this may only be the beginning.
Facebook, CEO, Mark Zuckerberg has expressed much interest in further developing their artificial intelligence capabilities. Zuckerberg has told potential investors that he wants to be able to examine text from individual’s status updates in hopes to decipher the context of the post and even mood of the person posting. John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security at the Department of Justice explained to a reporter that most cases of terrorism are usually initiated in some way on social media. In a very recent letter from Facebook, Zuckerberg wrote, “Looking ahead, one of our greatest opportunities to keep people safe is building artificial intelligence to understand more quickly and accurately what is happening across our community” (Overly).
What type of privacy concerns does this technology cause?
You may think it’s a little frightening that Facebook could locate your face in a picture, and so do a lot of privacy advocates and government officials. In fact, many European governments with the same feelings toward this software have actually required Facebook to delete all European facial recognition data (Grandoni).
DeepFace is not the first or the only software capable of using facial recognition to identify individuals. With Facebook, most people are concerned because they don’t know what Facebook’s real intentions are with this data. Most individuals don’t even hesitate when the little pop up is presented and asks them to agree to the Facebook's end-user license agreement, but does anyone really know what’s in that and how detailed it is?
Facebook has confirmed that it provides law enforcement with access to user data when it is compelled by a judge's order.
Europe has serious issues with facial recognition technology. Both Facebook and Google have been required to disable this technology for users in European countries. Both Ireland and Germany have publicly confirmed their requirement for Facebook to disable all the facial recognition technology in software in use in their countries. Facebook is subject to the Irish Data Protection Commission because the company’s European office is headquartered in Ireland. Major corporations’ European headquarters are typically based out of Ireland to avoid U.S. income taxes. But to its detriment, Facebook’s Irish office means that it’s subject to stringent privacy regulations. Facial recognition was black listed from the European Union altogether and Facebook has been required to work with the Irish Data Protection Commission to adhere to the privacy regulations in the EU since 2011.
What type of future does this technology give us?
This technology opens the door to advanced advertisement. A marketer could use facial recognition in location where advertisement is displayed and by knowing who you are, could link your shopping habits and demographics to determine what you are more likely to buy. It would also be advantageous for government agencies could use this information to be able to more accurately identify who was involved in crimes based on photos and videos taken at the scene. You could almost consider the use of it as a secondary fingerprint. Everyone has a very distinct face, yes, some are similar, but with the accuracy that DeepFace has created, it could accurately distinguish with your face when compared to hundreds of other faces.
DeepFace is a facial-recognition software created by a group of researchers at Facebook. What does DeepFace do? Have you ever wondered why after uploading a picture to Facebook and you start tagging people, it already knows who is in the picture? The reason for that is the DeepFace Software. This software that can identify who is in a picture based on their facial features, and it’s pretty darn accurate. Researchers say that the software is 97.25 percent accurate, which is nearly as good as humans who test at 97.53 percent accuracy. They started rolling out the technology to users in the beginning of 2015, but you better believe there is more behind the software than just being able to tag your friend in a photo effortlessly. On this wiki I plan on covering why Facebook invested so much in the facial recognition software and how it actually works. I will also investigate following questions regarding DeepFace and Facebook. I will also investigate if Faecebook really intends to use the tool to drive traffic to their site and increase revenue based on specific advertising, or if they plan on researching and developing further AI tools. I will also report on how government will limit or has limited this capability already, and how these advances in facial recognition. Further I will investigate how AI tools will personally affect our lives. One of the things that interests me most that I will discuss is what type of markets will use this technology if made available and what the potential possibilities would be for this technology as it advances.
What are Facebook’s intentions for DeepFace and how does it work?
Zuckerberg appears to hold good intentions. A lot of time and effort from him go towards providing internet access to remote locations. It is possible that Zuckerberg has alternate motives than good conscience in this situation. With the government benefitting so much from such a technology is it ridiculous to think Zuckerberg is ignoring the rights of Facebook users. Facebook has created a software that is nearly as accurate as humans are when it comes to identifying faces. How, you might ask? Software developer Kirk Kaiser describes it like this, “Every time somebody takes a photo of you or you upload a photo of yourself, it’s added to the training data set that exists in the ether of who and what you are” (Sharpe). Most would agree that Facebook has the largest collection of photos. The terrifying thing is, they now also have the capability to identify almost every face in those photos. DeepFace uses 2D and 3D models of the face in each photo. Deep learning technology works in four stages: detect, align, represent and classify. Essentially, the artificial intelligence is recognizing the small features that make up an object or a single piece of text and then putting them together to create a map of the whole thing. DeepFace takes the aligning and representing stages one step further. Using a three-dimensional model of an average human being, the software positions the face to look forward. Then, a numerical description of the reoriented face is calculated using a simulated neural network.
Computer Scientist and Director of Facebook’s artificial intelligence research, Yann LeCun, explained that it is not their intention to invade Facebook users’ privacy, but to help protect it. He goes on to explain that Facebook will notify you any time a picture is posted of you--including strangers’ photographs--at that point you can choose to blur your face out of the photo in order to protect your privacy (Bohannon). Currently, the software provides certain suggestions on which of your Facebook friends should be tagged in your photos after uploading it to your page, but this may only be the beginning.
Facebook, CEO, Mark Zuckerberg has expressed much interest in further developing their artificial intelligence capabilities. Zuckerberg has told potential investors that he wants to be able to examine text from individual’s status updates in hopes to decipher the context of the post and even mood of the person posting. John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security at the Department of Justice explained to a reporter that most cases of terrorism are usually initiated in some way on social media. In a very recent letter from Facebook, Zuckerberg wrote, “Looking ahead, one of our greatest opportunities to keep people safe is building artificial intelligence to understand more quickly and accurately what is happening across our community” (Overly).
What type of privacy concerns does this technology cause?
You may think it’s a little frightening that Facebook could locate your face in a picture, and so do a lot of privacy advocates and government officials. In fact, many European governments with the same feelings toward this software have actually required Facebook to delete all European facial recognition data (Grandoni).
DeepFace is not the first or the only software capable of using facial recognition to identify individuals. With Facebook, most people are concerned because they don’t know what Facebook’s real intentions are with this data. Most individuals don’t even hesitate when the little pop up is presented and asks them to agree to the Facebook's end-user license agreement, but does anyone really know what’s in that and how detailed it is?
Facebook has confirmed that it provides law enforcement with access to user data when it is compelled by a judge's order.
Europe has serious issues with facial recognition technology. Both Facebook and Google have been required to disable this technology for users in European countries. Both Ireland and Germany have publicly confirmed their requirement for Facebook to disable all the facial recognition technology in software in use in their countries. Facebook is subject to the Irish Data Protection Commission because the company’s European office is headquartered in Ireland. Major corporations’ European headquarters are typically based out of Ireland to avoid U.S. income taxes. But to its detriment, Facebook’s Irish office means that it’s subject to stringent privacy regulations. Facial recognition was black listed from the European Union altogether and Facebook has been required to work with the Irish Data Protection Commission to adhere to the privacy regulations in the EU since 2011.
What type of future does this technology give us?
This technology opens the door to advanced advertisement. A marketer could use facial recognition in location where advertisement is displayed and by knowing who you are, could link your shopping habits and demographics to determine what you are more likely to buy. It would also be advantageous for government agencies could use this information to be able to more accurately identify who was involved in crimes based on photos and videos taken at the scene. You could almost consider the use of it as a secondary fingerprint. Everyone has a very distinct face, yes, some are similar, but with the accuracy that DeepFace has created, it could accurately distinguish with your face when compared to hundreds of other faces.
Works Cited
Bohannon, John. "Facebook will soon be able to ID you in any photo." Science. Published 5 Feb. 2015, accessed 19 Feb. 2017. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/02/facebook-will-soon-be-able-id-you-any-photo
Grandoni, Dino. "Facebook's New 'DeepFace' Program Is Just As Creepy as it Sounds." The Huffington Post. Publish 18 Mar. 2014, accessed 19 Feb. 2017. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/facebook-deepface-facial-recognition_n_4985925.html
Overly, Steven. "Facebook plans to use AI to identify terrorist propoganda." The Washington Post. Published 16 Feb. 2017, Accessed 19 Feb. 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/02/16/facebook-plans-to-use-ai-to-identify-terrorist-propaganda/?utm_term=.171cc665c833
Sharp, Levi. "Defeat Facebook's DeepFace With Google's DeepDream." Popular Science. published 5 Feb. 2015, accessed 19 Feb. 2017. http://www.popsci.com/defeat-facebooks-deepface-googles-deepdream