Another thing computers can do better than humans now

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Computer face recognition is apparently getting better and better:
Sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the match up of face-recognition algorithms showed that machine recognition of human individuals has improved tenfold since 2002 and a hundredfold since 1995. Indeed, the best face-recognition algorithms now perform more accurately than most humans can manage.
Won't it be cool (and terrifying) when you can submit a picture of a face to Google and get a name back? Wouldn't it be cool to wear a device that whispers the name of who you are talking to into your ear? I'd love that. I'm always forgetting people's names. The fun possibilities are endless. As are the creepy Big Brother possibilities. We have to reform our government, because the technology that is available to it is just going to get more and more powerful.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Dammit, facial recognition is like the one thing humans do well.

As for google, that day is not far.
12:39 PM, May 31, 2007
ST said…
Dude, that device would make me a much better teacher. I am SO embarrassed when former (umm, okay, sometimes current) students come up to me and I can't remember their names.
7:14 AM, June 01, 2007
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