This Russian startup developed super advanced face-recognition technology, and it’s making people nervous

By FastCompany

NTechLab, a company based in Moscow, has developed a biometrics algorithm that was able to correctly match people’s faces against a database of more than 1 million photos with 73% accuracy, the Wall Street Journal reported today. 

The small 20-member team is led by 26-year-old Artem Kukharenko and 29-year-old Alexander Kabakov, who say the tech can be used for quickly scanning and identifying people in large crowds, WSJ reports. But the pair also say they’re already in talks to sell their products to state-affiliate security firms in places like China and Turkey, where privacy concerns are not exactly high on the list of priorities.

Among the technologies that raise the hairs on the necks of privacy advocates, facial-recognition software ranks pretty high up there. “You can’t turn off your face,” is a common refrain. Read more from WSJ here.

First appeared at FC