An image of the rapper Lil Peep before (left) and after (right) tattoo removal by an algorithm. Researchers at Germany's Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences trained an algorithm to remove facial tattoos to improve facial recognition systems. The process involved automatically adding ink to 41 images of untattooed faces, with tattoos covering 5% to 25% of the face in the image. A generative adversarial network (GAN) was trained using these images and was able to remove the tattoos, though it had issues with those covering the entire face. The GAN-altered images were tested against a facial recognition system, halving the system's error rate when the tattoos were removed by the GAN.

Artificial intelligence can accurately remove tattoos from photos of people's faces – potentially helping face recognition systems, which can be flummoxed by such tattoos, work accurately. In previous research, Mathias Ibsen at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences in Germany and his colleagues had identified that face painting and tattoos can impair the performance of face recognition systems.