Advanced face identification software can identify masked faces

LONDON: A new facial recognition software that uses Artificial Intelligence to map facial points can now identify people even if their face is covered in a breakthrough that will help quickly unmask criminals, reported UK media.

The AI identifies people by measuring the distances and angles between 14 facial points; ten for the eyes, three for the lips, and one for the nose. It uses these readings to estimate the hidden facial structure, and then compares this with learned images to unveil the person's true identity.

'This is very interesting for law enforcement and other organisations that want to capture criminals,' Amarjot Singh, a researcher at the University of Cambridge who worked on Disguised Face Identification (DFI), told Inverse. 'The potential applications are beyond imagination.'

Despite hurdles, Singh told Inverse: 'We're close to implementing it practically.'

The DFI team has called on other researchers to help develop the technology using their datasets of covered and uncovered faces.