The Dangers of Facial Recognition

Facial recognition was once a hallmark of sci-fi, but we're now years past its introduction in many facets of contemporary society. Social networks use it to tag people in photos, it's the way that millions of people unlock their devices, and it's playing an ever-greater role in helping law enforcement around the world identify criminals and missing children in equal measure. It's an amazing technology that is only possible because of the rise of machine learning algorithms, the sheer mountains of data that modern society collates every day, and ever-faster computers to process it all. But despite all of these advances, facial recognition technology has a dark side. It's often wrong, which can create a myriad of potentially quite serious problems for those who fall foul of it.