Facebook AI Can Now Hide People From Facial Recognition

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  via Giphy

  Remember when Facebook first began to tag your friends in your photos by itself? A lot has changed since those humble beginnings of facial recognition, and the tool has become a staple for governments and private companies as a way to keep a tab on their citizens or customers - without the people's consent. 

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  via Giphy

  A plethora of privacy-related issues ensued after facial recognition became a commonplace practice for private companies and governments, with much conjecture about the imminence of a surveillance society. 

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  via Giphy

  So, in a step towards placating the public, Facebook has released a new AI technology that de-identifies your face by slightly modifying the face in the video. As you can see in the GIFs, the generated versions of these actors are recognizable but...not quite right. 

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  via Giphy

  The new AI is able to work with pre-recorded videos and live videos, with only a little time distortion. It's like a reverse deepfake, where it distorts the person's face enough to confuse facial recognition systems, but not enough to make them unrecognizable. 

  Facebook isn't anywhere near using this software by default, so don't let your guard down on the social media website. It's a step in the right direction, though. And that's better than nothing. 

  
  

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