The augmented reality business Blippar is moving its app towards facial recognition, allowing users to literally put a name to a face.
Blippar uses machine learning and augmented reality to feed back information about individual products when you point your smartphone’s camera at them. When you highlight a particular product, Blippar will be able to present promotional information about it. The app also works with famous paintings.
Blippar co-founder Omar Tayeb has demonstrated the capabilities of the app by pointing the camera at famous faces, including Hillary Clinton and Boris Johnson. In each case, the app recognized the faces and presented Wikipedia entries and social media accounts for the person in question.
The app can currently recognize over 70,000 public figures, but their aim is to have the app recognize the majority of non-public faces.
This could cause concern among consumers over breaches of privacy. The idea that a stranger could scan your face and learn more about you without consent is unsettling.
Tayeb addresses these concerns claiming that privacy is a feature baked into the app. He states that “it’s a totally opt-in service, the user has full control over what’s shown and they’re able to deactivate it at any time”.
A date has not been set on when this feature will be completed, but it appears as something that won’t be welcomed very warmly upon arrival.
