In a lot of ways, it’s seemed like facial recognition technology was inevitable. As the surge in its popularity and usage has skyrocketed in the past couple of years, a lot of companies have started to take note. While the early adopters have been law enforcement and other security groups, more and more businesses have been wondering if it’s the right move for their company. However, that’s why we’ve compiled a few notes on helping you answer the question if facial recognition is something you should investigate further. Check them out below:
The Basics
While a relatively new field, facial recognition has quickly taken both the tech and security worlds by storm. According to Variant Market Research, the facial recognition industry is estimated to be worth $15.4 billion by 2024, which is a pretty surprising figure considering how recent a development this is. The steady growth has come primarily in two industries. First, facial recognition was normalized when it became standard for unlocking phone screens; most people just viewed it as an upgraded security feature. The second use of identity verification has been the one that’s left businesses wondering if this is something they should utilize.
Where It Fits In
Facial recognition software has a wide variety of use cases across a few different industries. The most basic one we’re used to is facial recognition to verify our identity on our phones and other third party sources; however, this software can be used when we’re not even aware. Face recognition in stadiums, for example, can help law enforcement and security identify who’s attending an event quickly and if there are any potential threats. However, beyond just for protection, facial recognition has already started to creep into the commercial side of tech.
As fast as the boom towards facial recognition has been happening, so has advertisers trying to capitalize off it. As noted by Fortune, facial recognition was used by a Chinese company to shame jaywalkers on a billboard across the street, which they hoped would one day be used for targeted ad campaigns. Similar to how you’d see a targeted ad on Facebook or Instagram using your browsing data, facial recognition would identify the person an advertiser is trying to reach, review their profile, and then display an ad in real-time. While something we’ve seen quite a bit in Sci-Fi, ads showcasing yourself aren’t out of the realm of possibility. Even with how advance facial recognition can be on both ends of the use case spectrum, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always worth the cost.
What Businesses Should Consider
Until advertising capabilities become more advanced, the biggest market for facial recognition software right now is security. This has already grown to be a massive industry primarily by law enforcement because as noted in a study by Georgetown University, over half of all Americans are in a Police Facial Recognition Database. We’ll note that for your average person attending a concert or traveling to the airport, this technology is relatively harmless. It’s just another type of identification method, but one that can identify a threat quickly. And if your business is one that deals with crowds, then facial recognition might not be a bad idea.
Depending on how much of an investment you’re willing to take into the measure, facial recognition could be a wise choice for an array of large-scale business owners. This includes places for entertainment like casinos, shopping malls, or even stadiums, as well as transportation hubs like bus stations or airports. Furthermore, large outdoor areas can also serve a benefit from facial recognition, especially if you’re in an area with high-traffic. All-in-all, facial recognition can be an excellent security tool, and with development on the commercial end getting better and better, expect a mass of interesting future uses too.
Future Uses
In the immediate future of facial recognition, expect more inclusion for security. On a consumer level, this will be useful for such measures as protecting card usage; for example, as noted by Credit Donkey, in 2017, 20 percent of data breaches occurred involved credit card numbers, which is why one of the first lines of authentication when making a purchase on your phone now is facial identity. From a b2b level, identity verification could be especially useful for enterprise-level companies, for example, in verifying Instagram followers’ accounts on your business profile. Our digital world is about to become much more secure, but it’s the commercial aspect that has people worried.
The biggest hurdle that the tech world will have to overcome with facial recognition is going to boil down to privacy. As we’ve already seen some giants like Facebook actively working on facial recognition projects, we have to ask: how much do they know about our facial movements? Not just what your face looks like, but how your muscles move in certain situations, as well as if people can capture that data when you’re simply just walking through the airport. Furthermore, how much are these companies able to pull from when you’re browsing your computer or phone?
A lot of these questions come from the immediate backlash surrounding the tech world’s relationship with our privacy, which begs the question–knowing what you do about facial recognition, would you consider it worthwhile for advertising your business? Comment with your insights below!
