Microsoft improves facial recognition across skin tones, gender
Facial recognition is everywhere. The technology is used in China to make kids pay attention and in California to order burgers. You can of course use your face to unlock your iPhone, but the tech also has the potential to screen passengers at US airports and recognize criminals. These last two uses are problematic, as the tech isn't ready to handle darker skin tones and genders. Microsoft hopes to help fix this problem with improved facial recognition technology the company claims has reduced error rates for men and women with darker skin by 20 percent.
According to Microsoft, commercially-available software performs best on males with lighter skin and the worst on females with darker skin. The new software system the company has been testing was able to reduce error rates by nine times for all women and significantly improve accuracy across all demographics.
Also at The Verge and TechCrunch.
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The warning came via a 10-K document that the company has to file annually to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 10-K filing is mandatory for public companies and is a way for investors to learn about financial state and risks that the company may be facing.
In the filing, Microsoft made it clear that despite recent enormous progress in machine learning, AI is still far from the utopian solution that solves all of our problems objectively. Microsoft noted that if the company ends up offering AI solutions that use flawed or biased algorithms or if they have a negative impact on human rights, privacy, employment or other social issues, it's brand and reputation could suffer.
Tay is still trapped in Redmond.
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Microsoft Improves Facial Recognition Across Skin Tones, Gender
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday June 27 2018, @01:43PM (2 children)
Only listing two of the 5280 currently known genders is a microaggression, you literally hitlers!
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @02:11PM
"Fuck off Jamie"! [twitter.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @05:57PM
It has taken you a while but I'm glad to see you're finally joining modern society.
*golf clap*
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @01:49PM (4 children)
So what did they reduce for the darker skin tones: The number of false positives, or the number of false negatives?
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Wednesday June 27 2018, @01:58PM (2 children)
The number [theguardian.com] of gorillas in the training set [businessinsider.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @03:09PM
Crash! The woman's entire body shook in response to the sound of something breaking. She considered several possibilities, but ultimately decided to look down the hallway leading to her back door. As the woman peeked around the corner leading into the hallway, she saw something rapidly approaching her face; it was a fist. The fist slammed into the woman's right eye and knocked her down. The owner of the fist, a large man, smiled and then executed his plan.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" someone screeched. A man got up off of a woman, who had clearly been fully utilized. "Now, where are the others...?" the man muttered to himself, as he looked around the house. Eventually, the man sighed in disappointment when he realized that the woman had no children. In light of this awful discovery, he kicked the woman's naked body out of anger. The man sighed once again, and then decided to go visit the house next door, which would hopefully have more toys that he could play with. The back door slammed shut, leaving the house to wallow in its silence
In the coming months, the woman's house, as well as the houses of all the other women the man had visited, would become infested with flies and maggots. And no one cared, other than the ones who had to take out the garbage within.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:14PM
Or they just fed TAY [socialhax.com] some images of Valerie Jarrett?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @10:32PM
There were no false positives.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @02:07PM
Literally.
(Score: 2) by aiwarrior on Wednesday June 27 2018, @02:13PM (1 child)
I wander if this will not lead to a genetic advantage in a future distopia where being darker, woman and plain features will get you anonymous in a crowd
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @02:26PM
I wonder into this future dystopia and think; No, you're not getting me.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 27 2018, @02:45PM (4 children)
Dafuq does that even mean? They get 1/9th of the error rate now? Or, they reduced the error rate by x% 9 times? Or - what? Gotta read TFA to even get an idea WTF they mean. Ohhhh - near the top of the page
That seems to make "nine times" meaningless. How do you get 20 percent from a 9? Crap, lemme read some more . . .
Hmmmmm - Microsoft has been writing EULA's for far too many years. They give us a meaningful sentence about women with darker skin, then a meaningless sentence about all women. WTF does "reduce nine times" mean?
I'll just assume that it means the author knows shit about mathematics. Maybe he had just finished studying the Rule of Nines, as it pertains to burn victims, and felt the need to throw a nine into his article.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @03:01PM
I'm always amused by English people not being capable of grasping reduction and time as a part of the same sentence ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @07:30PM (1 child)
Well, it obvious to every one, Runaway! Here, let me explain it for you. . . . Wait, what am I thinking? There is a reason you have no idea what it means, and I do not think I can overcome your cognitive deficit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @11:11AM
It's obvious to me that you can not explain it because you did not. Were you able to, your weak jab at Runaway would have been much more effective.
Instead you are exposed as a buffoon, who attempts to mock someone without knowing the extent of your own ignorance.
(Score: 2, Funny) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday June 27 2018, @10:02PM
54 / 2 = 27
27 + 6 = 33
My new girl is 31 so I may well yet get the chance to plant my seed into her furrow
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @05:11PM (3 children)
why is this a problem to fix? where do I opt out of their fixing the problem of being unable to identify me in public without my explicit consent? that's the problem I want to see fixed.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday June 27 2018, @05:33PM (2 children)
Lol. You have no expectation of privacy out in public.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @05:59PM (1 child)
Yes, yes I do. Maybe we need to get the legislative gears turning to make that expectation more of a reality.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @06:16PM
no, you don't. main reason it's called "the public".
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday June 27 2018, @09:36PM
For just one day Bing image search would inform me of the ages of each person in the photos that I clicked on.
They can also do pr0n recognition so as to enable Safe Search.
Why don't they combine the two then turn all the CP over to INTERPOL?
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]