October 8, 2007: Age/sex cam

[Undertoad]

It's the Monday Neatorama collaboration image!



The cameras are getting smarter. First they only had to identify what was a face. Then they started comparing faces to find matches. Now they're figuring out what the faces actually are. The official caption from the Mainichi Daily News:

A computer screen displays the sex and age of people as determined by face-recognition software developed by Omron Corp. at the CEATEC technology trade show in Chiba, Japan October 2, 2007. The Japanese text reads: (L to R) "Woman 20-39 years, Man 20-39 years, Man 20-39 years".

The human brain is set up to recognize facial patterns in images, which is why we look at smilies and see them as faces. When you look at a crowd, you are pre-programmed to find subtle differences in faces, so that even though all faces are very similar, you can instantly pick out family and friends. That's what makes this new technology so striking; more than ever, technology is encroaching on humanity.

But I guess you'd expect that to happen - because humans are programming the software to do what they want to do themselves. After all, in anonymous chat the first question is usually "A/S/L?" - shorthand for "what is your age, gender, and location?", so that the chatters can identify with each other, or at least each other's fake identity. These are the things we want to know about each other, if we are starting from nothing.

Be sure to visit our friends at Neatorama for more neato items all the time!

[piercehawkeye45]

Pssh, I thought it was going to be closer than a 20 year range.

[TheMercenary]

Crazy stuff. Not to surprised.

[barefoot serpent]

Don't let Ibram near it...


but now he's gone and cut his hair

[Sheldonrs]

The next generation:

"Woman 20-39 years, kind of bitchy, never married, has daddy issues, Man 20-39 years, Momma's boy, will never be happy in a relationship, wets the bed, Man 20-39 years, secretly in love with Llama, collects tupperware but only if it's red, erectile disfunction".

[ZenGum]

Nice work Sheldon!

I find it odd that all three faces are westerners (at least non-Japanese). But maybe the shot was chosen for an English language news service so they chose it on purpose.

I also find it impressive that it works so well for western faces, if it was originally designed in Japan. Larger noses, especially on women, are very rare here, and might cause the software to guess male.
Also, Japanese people show signs of age very slowly. A few times in my classes I have thought "Hmmm, she's pretty cute" and then she says "My son just graduated from college" or something.
The success of the software could be attributed to either it being calibrated for a wide range of faces (western as well as Japanese) or, as I suspect, they chose a successful matching to put in the paper.

On second thoughts, putting that woman in 20-39 is being generous to her. I'd be very surprised if she is under 30. How crushing would it be if the machine classed her as male, 30-49. Ouch! Maybe it errs on the side of caution.

[ViennaWaits]

Originally Posted by Sheldonrs

The next generation:

"Woman 20-39 years, kind of bitchy, never married, has daddy issues, Man 20-39 years, Momma's boy, will never be happy in a relationship, wets the bed, Man 20-39 years, secretly in love with Llama, collects tupperware but only if it's red, erectile disfunction".

Hysterical. Also love the sig line; GREAT movie, even better actor.

Anyhoo - am I the only person to think this kind of thing is a bit on the creepy side? Maybe I've seen Enemy of the State too many times. Granted, 19 years is a broad range, but when you consider that it narrows the population considerably when trying to ID someone... gives me the shivs. Not for a moment do I believe that the gov't would be the only ones with their grubby paws on it, either.

[Cicero]

Does not detect assholes yet or what? (the third time's the charm)

[xoxoxoBruce]

Cannon has a camera in the works that won't take the picture, until everyone in the frame is smiling.

[johningerslev]

Sheldonrs
Lecturer

I found your post so funny I had to say so. I have posted one other comment in the last many months. maybe centuries.

[ZenGum]

There is also a working prototype of a photocopier which will translate as it copies!!

It scans the page, locates the text within the layout, reads it, translates, composes a page with the same layout, and prints. Just hope the translation software is better than babelfish!

All your base are belong to us!

[barefoot serpent]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

All your base are belong to us!

All your face are belong to us.

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by barefoot serpent

All your face are belong to us.

Ahhh, good one! BLG (Big long groan)

Can't believe I missed that opportunity.
Now get to work on my "You sound like a horny moose" thread, will you? I need your help.

[Razzmatazz13]

what if you're going for one of those moody shots?

[monster]

Originally Posted by Razzmatazz13

what if you're going for one of those moody shots?

Then you switch to moody and it won't take the photo until it can see the inside of the lower eyelids of all subjects (Including the cat and the teapot)