Year in Review: The Rise of the Machines

Looking back, the FindBiometrics Year in Review survey question about artificial intelligence was a bit of a no-brainer.

Question 14 asked respondents to indicate how much they agreed with the following statement: “Artificial intelligence will make voice, speech, and face recognition biometrics integral to everyday life.” Eighty-three percent of respondents agreed, with 37 percent saying they “Strongly agree”; and only three percent said they “Strongly disagree”.

An algorithm could have predicted these responses. AI has emerged as a key component of biometric technologies over the past several years, meaning it has become extremely important to the kinds of biometrics industry experts who participated in the FindBiometrics Year in Review survey.

Machine learning and deep learning technologies have become particularly important. These are the tools that allow AI systems to actually improve their performance as they absorb growing amounts of data, and they have had a marked effect on the industry’s evolution, with a year-end report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) crediting them for helping to make facial matching systems across the industry as a whole about 20 times better than they were in 2014.

Judging by the responses to Question 14 of the Year in Review, those in the biometrics industry expect this trend to continue. What’s more, they think the more sophisticated technology will help to expand the already growing role of biometrics in everyday life use cases, from unlocking a smartphone to getting on a plane. The smart money is on smart AI.

–

January 24, 2019 – by Alex Perala