Biometrics and AI Bias

Abstract

While humans share many physical characteristics, they are not replicas of one another in appearance. Despite their uniqueness, common features mean that comparisons can be made. The ability to identify someone by face has been one of the most fundamental ways that humans have connected with each other as distinct persons [1]. Recognizing someone is in fact a form of human visual information processing [2]. Long before mirrors were available in the ancient world (circa 5th century BCE the Greeks used hand mirrors for grooming [3]), descriptions of one's face were always determined by another's gaze or at best one's own description of their reflection in clean water illuminated by sunlight. Some even gained nicknames through the identification of distinct features on their forehead, nose, eyes, eyebrows, ears, and cheeks, for example, or through some clear markings, such as freckles or a birthmark. These were all the usual ways of remembering individuals; not as a means of discrimination but simply for the purposes of identification. In villages that did not exceed 250 households, it was possible to know of, and remember everyone [4], especially given that relations possessed similar and familial features.