Intel launch RealSense ID Yesterday, a facial recognition solution based on RealSense Depth Sensing Technology (Across Gizmodo). RealSense started As a Kinect camera For touchless interaction, but RealSense ID appears to be an attempt by Intel to reposition its camera business towards secure face recognition on the device first, with the company potentially being caught in the crosshairs of controversy.

RealSense ID is based on Intel Depth Sensing Technology with Neural Face Detection Neural Network, dedicated system on chip and secure component that encrypts and processes user data. The device should learn and adapt to the face over time, working around facial hair, a variety of different skin colors, face masks, Gizmodo Writes. The technology is provided as a unit that can be integrated into other products or as a standalone peripheral device that can be connected to a computer.

Intel’s RealSense technology has been in the works for several years now popping up in weird tech display use cases like Enter your face in Fallout 4, And more useful like unlocking a laptop using Windows Hello. Intel suggests that this new RealSense app can be used in a variety of settings, such as ATMs, registries, and smart locks. What the company did not mention is another common use of facial recognition: governments and law enforcement agencies track and stereotype people.

Only last year, Huawei’s facial recognition software was used Tracking China’s persecuted Uyghur minority. And in the United States last summer, facial recognition technology was used by the New York City Police Department to track A. Black life activist mission accused of assault. Intel says it processes facial recognition on the device, but it’s not clear how this will work to give you access to a bank’s ATMs or cash registers. In addition to the potential for abuse, facial recognition software has been found to be biased for both race and gender, opening up the possibility of false positives. For example, a version of Face recognition software from Amazon Rekognition, I had a hard time recognizing people if they were female or dark-skinned than if they were white men.

Intel has taken steps to address the possibility of RealSense ID bias by creating a more diverse sample of faces to train RealSense on. „We have collected extensive data for all ethnicities from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa,“ Intel said Tell VentureBeat In a press briefing for the new device. Intel says RealSense ID has a one in a million chance of misidentifying someone, but we have to wait and see if outside researchers find flaws.

Face recognition isn’t the only future Intel has envisioned for RealSense. The company announced this year’s CES Digital Show RealSense Touchless Control Software (TCS), Which uses Intel’s RealSense camera to allow you to interact with a touch screen by sliding your finger over it instead of touching it. Like facial recognition, the new app makes a lot of sense for a world still dealing with a pandemic, and it shows that there is still some room for RealSense motion controller past.

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