Biometric identifcation by body language
The GreenDot Project aims to train software to recognize a person by the unique fingerprint of body language. New York University computer science professor Chris Bregler tells me that the GreenDot Project "is DOD funded for some biometrics application, but we also applied it to lots of public figures, including the current Presidential candidates." From the project page:
The goal of the project is to train a computer to recognize a person based on his or her motions, and to identify the person's emotional state, cultural background, and other attributes. The research is federally funded (by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation), and conducted by an interdisciplinary team of computer scientists, movement experts, linguists, and other specialists. The current focus is the analysis of national and international public figures while they are giving speeches, with future plans to investigate many other domains. The research team is building a large database of people's motions, using cable television recordings and web video downloads. Through techniques similar to those used in speech recognition, this project applies machine learning (an Artificial Intelligence technique) to train a computer system to compare the detected body language of an individual in a video, to that of a database of other subjects.GreenDot Project
the latest
latest episodes
This is fascinating as technology, but I can't be the only person worried about automating judgements about a person's "cultural background". Racist panopticon surveillance, anyone?
I just like the fact that this GreenDot computer thingy picked up on the stars in the background. It's like a girl in 5th grade or something. Hopefully it dots it's "i's" with a heart, too.
And this is a danger of technofetishism. "Cultural background" please!
It's 2008 -- anyone taking DoD money for stuff like this knows which side they're on, regardless of the verbiage they wrap it in.
THe blue and red bars are utterly meaningless of course, they were put there to promote the project's scientificalism.
It can also be used to fabricate footage starring the studied person.
That's very impressive, but can it tell by the way I use my walk that I'm a woman's man with no time for talk?
Hah! Does it also analyze their face to see if they are agitated and then compare their body language to an agitated face that might be same individual?
I know that whilst I have body language, it differs on my clothing, the temperature, time of day, status of stomach, lightning and of course my own personal mood and to whom I'm engaging in conversation with.
Value for money, none.
I think that METT (the micro expression training tool) has more credence as a way to discern someone's true feelings and whether they're telling the truth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microexpression
All good fun and games...
until you happen to score a hit for "moving like a terrorist".
I've thought for years that Dick Cheney was gone and we were always seeing a "stand-in." Could we apply this green dot technology to some pictures of him from say seven years ago and today?
I wonder how well Fey matches Palin...
@2: Which is precisely the problem with machine learning... if they aren't careful, they can train a machine that searches for background patterns to learn the wrong thing.
There was a 5+ year project to have an AI that machine learned to identify tanks from foilage. It neared 100% success until it suddenly dropped to 50/50 with a new set of test images. Turns out the pictures with the tanks had been taken on cloudy days (to increase the challenge of picking out low-contrast targets), and no-tank images were taken on sunny days. It had identified the best metric (overall brightness) to easily identify photos from set A or set B. :)
Figuring out what is inside a person by looking at the outside of a person and using machine intelligence to intrepid intent is an ugly invasion of privacy. Their are way too many opportunities for abuse here. A thank you, but no thank you, should be offered to the D.O.D. Canceling this can help trim the budget.
ANON@5: I wish it could be used to identify YOU, because that was very funny. =D
I know this was kinda covered on another thread, but I would like to have an on-screen polygraph type identifier during debates that would show definitively who is telling the biggest whoppers. I think I have a pretty good B.S. detector (and being well informed on current events certainly helps) but I would like for the citizens of the world to have this tool to help us gain consensus. Maybe this could be installed on the TV itself for independent verification. And instead of bar graphs, could we maybe make their noses grow?
Can you imagine such technology being applied to Faux News? This would cause a game shifting change in the way campaigns are run, news is gathered, and especially the way advertising is conducted.
While I'm sure the DOD wants this for some TSA-like purpose, it's actually cool that it's being done - if robots are ever going to be able to interact intelligently with humans, they're going to need to be able to pick up on and mimic this stuff.
I couldn't help but think of Troy McClure:
"The President's Neck is Missing!"
Maybe this will help determine when they turn Reptilian.