What To Expect from Face Recognition in the Age of Artificial Intelligence?
Facial recognition is reshaping forensic investigations by providing new ways to connect evidence across cases. Yet, its rise brings vital questions about proportional use. As AI-powered automation becomes more common, the challenge is to use technology to support human expertise. The future of face-based investigations lies in balancing efficiency with accountability, using software solutions to extend judgment.
Reframing technology in face-based investigation
For criminal investigators, faces have become part of the evidence trail in a way few could have imagined a decade ago. Images flow in from CCTV cameras and smartphones, forming an immense reservoir of visual traces of investigative value – while artificial intelligence has pushed recognition algorithms to extraordinary levels of performance, raising hopes that this abundance might finally be tamed.
Yet their power does not settle the matter; it merely reshapes the stakes. Algorithms can search and sort, yet they cannot explain themselves, nor can they shoulder the weight of decisions.
And in the broader landscape of forensic work, one truth remains unchanged: investigation is more than machinery. It is a craft shaped by method, judgment, and accountability in front of courts - qualities that no system, however advanced, can substitute. The real question today is not whether face recognition can be used, but how it should be woven into the fabric of responsible practice.
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