The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the expansion and accelerated
development of various touchless technologies, with facial recognition
being one among them.
We spoke with CEO Rob Watts, of cutting-edge facial recognition
software company Corsight, about facial recognition tech’s expanding
role within the travel space, and how it stands to benefit both
consumers and industry stakeholders amid COVID-19, and beyond.
Corsight’s autonomous AI is essentially military-grade software and
represents a vast evolution over the type of facial recognition tech
we’re used to using. “We can identify someone with 90-degree head turn.
We can identify someone with a camera at 70-degree rake; and we can
identify someone with a face mask—not just with a face mask, but with a
ski mask...with hat, glasses, all of that,” Watts said. And,
astonishingly, “We can identify someone who is now age 50 from a
photograph of them at age 17.”
Travel Applications
Corsight is currently involved in the
International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Travel Pass initiative,
which is essentially what some would call a “vaccine passport”, though
it can also access test results or proof of recovery documents as well
as provide details on testing locations, destination entry requirements
and other real-time information pertaining to a user’s flight.
In
an introductory video, IATA describes the Travel Pass app as a
“one-stop-shop to securely and conveniently let you verify that you meet
COVID-19 health requirements for your journey”. The integration of
facial recognition technology comes into play as “the app’s digital ID
function will also pave the way for a future where travel is even more
contactless, and IATA Travel Pass can act as your digital passport”.
When
asked whether he felt travellers would balk at the idea of surveillance
by the software or having their facial biometrics scanned while
traversing the airport, Watts said, “What I think passengers are looking
for, more than anything, is a safe and secure environment...for their
fellow passengers and also for themselves.”
Watts believes that allaying the public’s fears over the privacy of
their personal data will all come down to establishing proper
governance. “If it were to be introduced correctly at state level as to
the appropriate use of facial recognition, the US might start to see
that facial recognition can be used as a force for good in the same way
that, here in the UK, it is absolutely starting to be used for that,”
Watts said.
“I’m
looking to leverage how facial recognition can be used as a force for
good...Come back to Travel Pass—Travel Pass is an absolute legitimate
use of facial recognition because it’s being used as a force for good,”
he continued. “It’s protecting people’s lives, and it’s enabling people
to travel safely and securely.”
Will It Really Fly?
The Corsight CEO has no doubt that the facial
recognition market will be implemented and accepted on a broader scale
in the future. “It will be adopted by the likes of you and I because
it’s convenient for us to use facial recognition,” he said. Facial
recognition is already making its way into our everyday lives, as we use
our faces to do things like unlock our phones or access our mobile
banking information. “It’s far more protective to have facial biometric
ID opening up your bank account than it is a four-digit PIN,” Watts
affirmed.
“Transacting with your face makes life a lot easier,” He opined. “As
you approach the gate, you want the gate to recognise that your
biometric is known by that processing system, therefore it allows you
through that gate. Therefore, as you approach the bag drop area, you’re
known to that bag drop assistant that you have a vaccine, you have been
COVID tested, you are a credible person to fly.”
Privacy-wise, using your biometric isn’t so different from other
forms of identification, but is vastly more secure. In the same way that
you “own” your social security number, your passport number, your
credit card numbers or even your social media accounts, “you’re owning
your biometric data”, Watts said. “It’s exactly the same thing.”
He explained, “In engaging with a travel agent, you’re giving them
your data; in engaging with an airline, you’re giving them your data.
All that is happening here is that data is being exchanged digitally and
your facial recognition is being exchanged digitally.”
As it's used for surveillance purposes, facial recognition software
scans individuals’ biometrics as they pass through ports or airports,
running them through a database to flag anyone who appears on a
particular watchlist—missing persons, people traffickers, terrorists,
etc.