Blink Identity - Facial recognition at walking speed

by Startacus Admin

The lowdown on Blink Identity, the tech startup that is innovating how facial recognition is used... 

As we have said many times in various ways, the future of everything is digital, technological, whether artificial intelligence or smart, personalised marketing.

We’ve already seen advertisements personalised to you as you pass by with your phone broadcasting to them, but what if those advertisements did so because they recognised your face? What if venue entrances could recognise you and determine whether you have a ticket? What if buildings could not only recognise you for entry purposes but also track you for safety in the event that you’re selected for the next Hunger Games, or of a fire?

Austin-based startup Blink Identity specialises in facial recognition, and particularly facial recognition when the person in question is walking at full speed.

The Blink Identity founders - Mary Haskett (CEO) and Dr. Alex Kilpatrick (CTO) - have over a decade of experience designing, developing, and deploying large-scale biometric ID systems internationally for the US Department of Defense. Their extensive work with identity in motion technology has resulted in Blink Identity sensors being deployed for operational testing at US military bases around the world. Now they are bringing that technology to the commercial sector.

Good facial recognition would be a preferable alternative, for most people, to RFID chips embedded in their skin, dystopia-style. All you have to do to get into your office building is walk up to the door while in possession of a face, and the system will give you access and slam the door in the faces of your CIA pursuers. We’ve heard stories about people travelling across the country or even halfway around the world for a sporting event or concert, only to find that they left their tickets at home. If the venue was using Blink Identity, all you would have to do is look at a camera, and it would identify that you are a ticket holder and allow you entry.

In fact, in line with the above, Blink Identity recently won the City Startup Challenge created by the City Football Group, which manages Manchester City FC. The two groups will now work together to use Blink’s tech in a real-world setting for VIP access and general security. This win comes soon after Blink announced that they had netted $1.5m in a seed round led by Sinai Ventures.

As well as these and far more important security applications, Blink Identity could be the future of personalised marketing. As mentioned, we already have marketing that is tied to your phone, using beacons to tell nearby marketing tech who you are and what you are interested in. Facial recognition can do the same, but without the need for our input, turning on anything on our phones.

Of course, in unethical hands, this could also mean without our permission, and turn our lives into an Orwellian nightmare, but we will at least know that there’s a discount on that nice jacket we looked at last week.

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• #facial recognition

Published on: 4th August 2019