Race Presents Challenge for Facial and Eye Tracking Technology
Humans have an amazing ability to recognize faces; from the time you are born, your brain is programmed to identify and distinguish the faces of the people you see. Software developers are attempting to replicate this phenomenon because of the number of applications it could possibly be used for. However, nothing has been produced yet with 100% accuracy. HP’s Media Smart webcam is an example of the shortcomings of these efforts to recreate this complex human brain function.
In a popular Youtube video, a black man and a white woman comically demonstrate the HP Media Smart webcam’s seemingly “racist” malfunction. The webcam is supposed to use face tracking to follow the user as they move; however, the face tracking function does not work once the black man’s face enters the screen. Another Youtube video was created by ConsumerReports.org in response to the “racist” webcam post that proved it was actually a lighting issue that caused the system to fail, not a preference for skin color. According to the ConsumerReports.org video, “It’s a technological limitation. There needs to be enough light to capture the color of the tracked object. It’s not a built-in discrimination; the technology just needs to be improved so that it can determine color with lower or inadequate light.”
Eye tracking devices sometimes have similar issues with detecting eyes of different colors. Eyes can range from pale blue or green to very dark brown, almost black in color which can present challenges when trying to develop an eye-tracking algorithm that functions for all of these variations. Frequently it is also lighting conditions that make the detection of the pupil difficult. Whether it is facial tracking or eye tracking, human diversity is just one of the many variables that have to be taken into consideration in order for the technology to become universally usable. I have a feeling it will be awhile before we see devices capable of completely accurate human facial recognition.
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