Face-Off
Tue, Nov 14
Today's session is all about AI technologies that analyze the human face in some capacity. This includes face detection, face recognition, facial attribute assignment, and other technologies that use face images as input. The applications of these technologies vary, from camera-based surveillance to more natural human-computer interaction. The response to the sudden appearance of government and consumer-facing facial analysis products has been sharply critical, with outright calls to ban these technologies coming from a number of different groups. But is that a good idea in every case?
We have three main in-class learning goals. By the end of lecture today you will:
- Have an understanding of the different types of facial analysis technologies, including what they do and how they work.
- Consider the problem of dataset bias and its impact of machine learning algorithm performance.
- Survey the different applications where facial analysis technologies are being used, and pose questions about which ones are beneficial and which are harmful.
The slides for today's lecture.
Read This:
Evan Selinger and Woody Hartzog writing in the New York Times ask What Happens When Employers Can Read Your Facial Expressions?
Kashmir Hill's expose in the New York Times on the secretive face recognition company Clearview AI
Amy Harmon's expose in the New York Times on the city of Detroit's use of face recognition for policing
Larry Hardesty summarizes for MIT News work by Joy Buolamwini and Timnit Gebru that discovered gender and skin-type bias in commercial facial analysis systems
Johana Bhuiyan reporting for the Los Angeles Times on a Major camera company that can sort people by race, and alert police when it spots Uighurs
Mark Harris writing for IEEE Spectrum on How Facial Recognition Technology Is Helping Identify the U.S. Capitol Attackers
Tom Simonite writing for Wired on How Facial Recognition Is Fighting Child Sex Trafficking
There is an enormous amount of writing on the topic of automated facial analysis. Here are a few more optional readings on this topic:
How China uses facial recognition to control human behavior
One Month, 500,000 Face Scans: How China Is Using A.I. to Profile a Minority
Clearview AI finally takes part in a federal accuracy test
Europe Wants to Ban Facial Recognition—Take Note, America
Do This:
Writing Reflection 09
See the instructions posted on the assignment's page.
This writing reflection is due on 11/21 at 5pm.
This Week's Dialogue Group Meeting
Find at least one hour to meet with your group to discuss the prompt of the week: What concerns about AI are legitimate at the present moment?
Reading Quiz 11
The form for Reading Quiz 11 follows below. If you can't see the form below, try this direct link.