Amazon’s facial recognition technology, known as “Rekognition,” has added the ability to identify fear, which joins the seven other emotions the software can detect, CNET reports.
"We have improved accuracy for emotion detection (for all 7 emotions: 'Happy,' 'Sad,' 'Angry,' 'Surprised,' 'Disgusted,' 'Calm' and 'Confused') and added a new emotion: 'Fear,'" Amazon wrote in an update on Monday. "Lastly, we have improved age range estimation accuracy; you also get narrower age ranges across most age groups."
Rekognition is described as, “a comprehensive set of face detection, analysis, and recognition features for image and video analysis,” and “Improved face analysis models are now available for both Amazon Rekognition Image and Video, and are the new default for customers in all supported [Amazon Web Services] regions.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has raised concerns about the technology, having released a list on Monday of 28 different members of Congress that Amazon’s Rekognition wrongly identified as people who’d been arrested. However, the ACLU apparently used the software at the default confidence threshold of 80 percent, instead of the 95 percent threshold recommended for law enforcement.
"While 80 percent confidence is an acceptable threshold for photos of hot dogs, chairs, animals, or other social media use cases, it wouldn't be appropriate for identifying individuals with a reasonable level of certainty. When using facial recognition for law enforcement activities, we guide customers to set a threshold of at least 95 percent or higher," an Amazon spokesperson told CNET in an email.
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