Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Face Search Engine: Beneficial tool or Stalkerware

I think, we have to get used to the idea that excellent face recognition capabilities are now a fact of life and available to the general public from now on. It is here to stay!

Face recognition is definitely a dual use technology. Probably, the benefits significantly outweigh the disadvantages.

It is still a fairly new tool. Hence, malfunctioning or unexpected results are to happen. These kinks or quirks will likely be eliminated or at least drastically reduced as time passes.

Just one recent example: The Ukraine is using face recognition to identify Russian soldiers who died fighting in the Ukraine. Well, perhaps the parents might be interested to learn what happened to their son.

You can bet that various governments are already using it and far more advanced than what is available to the public at large. It can be used for legitimate law enforcement or to spy on citizens etc.

Thus, critical reports or articles (like the one below) regarding this technology ought to be taken with a huge grain of salt!

"PimEyes is a service that allows users to search its database of faces using a picture. Unlike Clearview, PimEyes can be used by anyone for $29.99 per month. ..."

Gradient Update #27: Face Search Engine or Stalkerware? And a New LLM Benchmark

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