Pattern Recognition
Digital Print and Oil on Canvas, Facial Recognition Software
2016
In a comparative experiment images and illustrations of the Muwekma Ohlone are analysed for faces. A human found all of them. Facebook's Deep Face, the most powerful facial recognition algorithm, found only two, one of them is not a face.
Digital Print and Oil on Canvas, Facial Recognition Software
2016
In a comparative experiment images and illustrations of the Muwekma Ohlone are analysed for faces. A human found all of them. Facebook's Deep Face, the most powerful facial recognition algorithm, found only two, one of them is not a face.
"THE ONCE FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED MUWEKMA OHLONE TRIBE OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA HAS FOUGHT FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES TO REGAIN ITS RIGHTS TO SOVEREIGNTY AND RESOURCES. IT HAS COST THE TRIBE DEARLY, EVEN FORCING THEM TO ABANDON THEIR TRIBAL HEADQUARTERS, BUT THIS FIGHT COULD SOON BE COMING TO AN END. THE NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBE, WHICH HAS MORE THAN 500 MEMBERS, IS CURRENTLY UNRECOGNIZED BY BOTH THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT."1
"SIMILARLY, A STUDY CONDUCTED IN 2012 THAT USED A COLLECTION OF MUG SHOTS FROM PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA TO TEST THE ALGORITHMS OF THREE COMMERCIAL VENDORS ALSO UNCOVERED EVIDENCE OF RACIAL BIAS. AMONG THE COMPANIES EVALUATED WAS COGNITEC, WHOSE ALGORITHMS ARE USED BY POLICE IN CALIFORNIA, MARYLAND, PENNSYLVANIA, AND ELSEWHERE. THE STUDY, CO-AUTHORED BY A SENIOR FBI TECHNOLOGIST, FOUND THAT ALL THREE ALGORITHMS CONSISTENTLY PERFORMED 5-TO-10 PERCENT WORSE ON AFRICAN AMERICANS THAN ON CAUCASIANS. ONE ALGORITHM, WHICH FAILED TO IDENTIFY THE RIGHT PERSON IN 1 OUT OF 10 ENCOUNTERS WITH CAUCASIAN SUBJECTS, FAILED NEARLY TWICE AS OFTEN WHEN THE PHOTO WAS OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN." 2