This may sound like something from a dystopian science fiction movie but it is now real. It was confirmed in a research paper recently published in a Scientific Reports named: “Facial recognition technology can expose political orientation from naturalistic facial images”. Its author Michal Kosinski was actually concerned if the results should be made public. Nevertheless, it is perhaps crucial to be aware of such technological progress in order to engage the public and as many institutions into wide ranges of discussions about the possible opportunities and threats it brings to us.
One such discussion was published in The Guardian while the entire study is publicly available here. One does not need to be paranoid in order to imagine all the potential abuses of this technology if it ends up in the hands of tyrants and regimes. Let’s hope that it is included in concerns of lawmakers in charge of legal frameworks related to facial recognition in general. More than ever the argument about strong privacy stands strong. Ever wondered how conservative and liberal people look in general? You can finally answer that question.
