Facial Recognition Software Improves by a Factor of 20 Since 2014

Facial recognition software has gotten 20 times better at searching databases of facial photographs to find a matching image, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) recent evaluation of 127 software algorithms from 45 different developers--the bulk of the industry. This indicates there is a rapidly advancing marketplace for face-based biometric algorithms. The evaluation was based on the same test that was carried out in 2010 and 2014 to determine how well an algorithm can match a person's photo with a different one of the same person stored in a large database. This type of "one to many" search is often used to check for a person who might be applying for a visa or driver's license under a name different than their own. The algorithms were prototypes, submitted in 2018 as compiled libraries and were evaluated as black boxes behind a NIST-specified C testing interface.