Intel launches RealSense ID, facial recognition technology that uses the company’s depth-sensing cameras

Intel yesterday released RealSense ID, a facial recognition solution that is based on its RealSense depth sensing technology (via Gizmodo). RealSense started out as a Kinect-style camera for contactless interaction, but RealSense ID appears to be Intel’s attempt to reposition its camera business toward secure facial recognition on the device first, while also potentially putting the company in the crossfire. of the controversy.

RealSense ID is based on Intel’s depth sensing technology with a neural network to identify faces, a dedicated system on a chip, and a secure element that encrypts and processes user data. The device must learn and adapt to a face over time, working around facial hair, a variety of different skin tones, and face masks. Gizmodo writes. The technology is available in a module that can be integrated into other products or as a standalone peripheral that can be connected to a computer.

Image: Intel

Intel’s RealSense technology has been around for several years, popping up in use cases from weird technical demos, like inserting your face in Fallout 4, and more useful ones like unlocking a laptop with Windows Hello. Intel suggests that this new RealSense app could be used in a variety of settings, such as ATMs, cash registers, and smart locks. What the company doesn’t mention is the other popular use of facial recognition: Governments and law enforcement agencies track and profile people.

In the last year alone, facial recognition software created by Huawei was used to track the persecuted Uighur minority in China. And in the United States last summer, the New York City Police Department used facial recognition technology to track down a Black Lives Matter activist charged with battery. Intel says it processes facial recognition on the device, but it’s unclear how it would work to give you access to bank ATMs or cash registers. Beyond the potential for abuse, facial recognition software has been found to be biased by both race and gender, opening up the possibility of false positives. For example, a version of Amazon’s facial recognition software, Rekognition, had a harder time identifying people if they were female or dark-skinned than if they were white men.

Intel has taken steps to address the potential for bias in RealSense ID by creating a more diverse sample of faces to train RealSense. “We have done extensive data collection from all ethnicities in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa,” Intel said. VentureBeat at a press conference for the new device. Intel says that RealSense ID has a one in a million chance of falsely identifying someone, but we’ll have to wait and see if outside investigators find any flaws.

Facial recognition isn’t the only future Intel envisions for RealSense. For this year’s digital CES, the company announced RealSense Contactless Control Software (TCS), which uses Intel’s RealSense depth camera to allow you to interact with a touch screen by swiping your finger over it, rather than touching it. Like facial recognition, the new app makes perfect sense for a world still facing a pandemic, and shows that there is still room for the RealSense motion controller’s past.

Intel’s RealSense ID peripheral is available for pre-order now for $ 99, and the RealSense ID module is available in a pack of 10 for $ 750. Intel plans to start shipping both in March.