Face recognition Gimon I asked the manufacturerOctober 10 at 19:17

"Face recognition" technology is becoming widespread in society, such as unlocking smartphones. Opportunities for use are also expanding to the financial field. Last month, convenience store banks announced that they would introduce ATMs next spring that allow money to be transferred and withdrawn using facial recognition and PIN. Viewers responded to the news with a variety of opinions and questions.
While some people said that it would be convenient, the most common responses were, "Do you authenticate even if you wear a mask?" and "Is there any fear that others will impersonate you?" These are the questions. To answer your questions, we asked the bank and the manufacturer who developed it.
(Economic Affairs Department reporter, Kentaro Makata)

Many questions about face recognition in ATMs

On September 9, Seven Bank announced a new ATM service.

From next spring, you will be able to use facial recognition technology to send and remove money from ATMs, so you will no longer have to carry a cash card.

NHK introduced this content on TV and the Internet.

No cash card required! Evolving ATMs

As finance is one of the most secure fields, viewers asked a lot of questions about facial recognition.

・What happens if I have an injury to my face and wear a bansoko?

・If you are wearing a mask, do you authenticate even grimaces and "funny faces"?

・Is it okay to be extremely thin or fat compared to the registered photo?

・Can twins be distinguished?

・Is there a risk that others will impersonate you by holding up the photo?

First, I asked the bank that announced it.

The answer was that we can't answer the question yet because it's under development for next spring.

He then said:

Seven Bank
: "In particular, we would like to take all possible measures in terms of security and develop new services so that everyone can use them safely and conveniently."

I asked the manufacturer who developed it

Next, I visited the showroom of NEC, a major manufacturer that developed this system.

While it has not yet been decided to what extent the company's technology will be used in Seven Bank's ATMs, we asked about the questions received and the latest trends in facial recognition.

With the cooperation of the company, the situation of the question was reproduced.

First, take a photo of your face with a tablet device or smartphone and register it in the system.

First of all, I tried it assuming that I had an injury to my face.

I wear a bansoko and gauze on my face and an eye patch on my eyes.

About one-third of the face is covered.

Can we still determine that they are the same person?

When I stood in front of a monitor with a camera attached, the system recognized the contours of the face and surrounded it with a rectangle, and the color of the lines changed to green.

At the same time, on the right side of the screen, there is my photo and the letters of my name (NHK_MAGATA) that I registered earlier.

I was able to authenticate my identity in an instant.

I also tried "when wearing a mask" and "when making a funny face", and authentication was possible without any problems as well.

What surprised me was that even if the photos registered in advance are from the past, face recognition is possible.

The PR lady of this company had registered a photo of her graduation album from her high school days.

As an adult, my hairstyle and hair color changed, and I changed my makeup, but I quickly decided that it was the same person.

How do they distinguish faces?

The company's system uses AI for authentication.

Capture and quantify the characteristics of the person, such as the position of the eyes, nose, and mouth, from the photograph of the person's face.

It instantly integrates and distinguishes whether the characteristics match the actual person.

For this reason, even in cases where a part of the face is hidden by an injury or mask, or in a case where the weight has increased or decreased extremely, it is possible to make an accurate judgment by focusing on places where characteristics are difficult to change, such as between the eyes.

In addition, even "twins" that are difficult to distinguish from others can be recognized by AI to detect small differences.

This company has been developing facial recognition technology for more than 30 years, and its accuracy has improved in recent years.

The photographs taken are managed as numerical data.

This means that the photo itself is not leaked to the outside.

Is security okay?

Some of the questions we received this time were concerned about security.

For example, how can we prevent impersonation of others?

This time, I tried to see if my face photo would be authenticated if another person held it over the camera.

The result was not recognized as a person in the first place.

According to the company, AI can tell if it's a real person or a photo.

It is also important to combine multiple authentications for added security.

To begin with, facial recognition is one of the methods called "biometric authentication", and there are other methods to read fingerprints, hand veins, and the iris of the eye.

The more you combine them, the harder it is to break security.

According to the bank that announced the ATM that uses face recognition this time, they are considering improving safety by combining multiple keys such as "face recognition" and "PIN".

Shinya Takashima:
"For example, if you combine the three elements of face recognition and iris recognition of both eyes, the possibility of being mistakenly matched with another person will be reduced to 3 in 100 billion.

From medical reception to immigration procedures at airports, to the financial sector like this one, facial recognition technology has become more familiar to our lives.

While convenience is increasing, how should personal information called "face" be handled and utilized?

Through the interview, I felt that companies that use the system are required to pay more attention to security and privacy.

Answers to questions asked * In the case

of NEC's face recognition system, what happens if I injure my face and wear a bansoko?
→ depends on the severity of the injury, but in many cases it can be

authenticated, and if you wear a mask, do you authenticate even grimaces and funny faces?
→ can be

authenticated with a high probability ・ Compared to registered photos, is it okay to be extremely thin or fat?
→ can be authenticated with a high probability / can

twins be distinguished?
→ can

be authenticated with a high probability ・ Is there a risk that others will impersonate you by holding up the photo?
→ can tell the difference between a photo and a real person, so it's hard for others to impersonate

"Cash withdrawal with face recognition" broadcast on "Good Morning Japan (OhaBiz)" on September 9

Kentaro Makata, reporter of the Ministry of Economic AffairsJoined
the Obihiro Bureau
,
Takamatsu Bureau, and Hiroshima Bureau in 2011 before joining the current department