Emotion reading technology claims to spot criminals before they act
Emotion reading technology claims to spot criminals
before they act
NTechLabs has created emotion recognition software that
could be added to CCTV cameras
By Cara McGoogan 10 MAY 2017 • 6:08PM
Emotion reading technology could soon be used by police
after a Russian firm created a tool that can identify people in a crowd and
tell if they are angry, stressed or nervous.
The software, created by NTechLab, can monitor citizens
for suspicious behaviour by tracking identity, age, gender and current
emotional state. It could be used to pre-emptively stop criminals and potential
terrorists.
"The recognition gives a new level of security in
the street because in a couple of seconds you can identify terrorists or
criminals or killers," said Alexander Kabakov, NTechLab chief executive.
The emotion recognition tool is a new part of NTechLab's
facial recognition software, which made the headlines last year when it was
used to power the FindFace app that can track down anyone on Russian social
network VKontakte from a photo.
The identification app claims to have reconnected
long-lost friends and family members, as well as helped police solve two cold
cases and identify criminals.
Adding the emotion element, which has an accuracy rate of
more than 94 per cent according to the company, could give the software
real-time crime fighting capabilities.
NTechLab retains an aura of secrecy around its clients,
which include security firms and retail businesses. But it is reportedly
working with Moscow city government to add the recognition software to the
capital's 150,000 CCTV cameras.
The company refused to comment on where the technology is
being applied. "The use case mentioned is generally for CCTV cameras and
there's nothing confirmed with Moscow," it said.
Kabakov said he doesn't see any privacy problems
resulting from the technology as it will be added to existing security systems
and cameras.
"If the street didn't have cameras I could
understand people might have some concerns, but now on every street you have
cameras," he said. "If you're in a public space, you have no
privacy."
He added that the expectation of privacy has disappeared
with the advent of smartphones. "Now, with smartphones, we don't have
privacy because phones know so much about you, including your behaviour and
location," he said.
NTechLab also announced that it has raised $1.5 million
(£1.2m), which it will use for research and development. It hopes to create
more real world and cloud applications for the facial and emotion recognition
software.
The Moscow-based NTechLab has more than 2,000 customers
in countries including the UK, US, Australia, China and India.
It isn't the only company to have created such
technology, but it has won two university awards for accurate face and emotion
recognition, beating competition from the likes of Google and Facebook. Most
recently it won the University of Ohio's EmotionNet challenge.
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