This Super Face-Scanning Software Thinks It Can Guess Your Age

This Super Face-Scanning Software Thinks It Can Guess Your Age


Here’s a pleasant first little look at Skynet — Face.com, which develops facial recognition software, now boasts that it can pinpoint your age based on your mug alone. Let’s test it out.

The software is meant for developers to use in their apps — say, a browser extension that would block certain sites when kids were on the computer. Sure it’s a little eery to think a computer can know us so well, but, God, get over it. And as it turns out, it’s still pretty rough around the edges.

[imgclear] In this photo of yours truly and inimitable YouTube seductress iJustine, Face.com couldn’t even guess my age with confidence, though it correctly surmised that I am a dude and was “happy” at the time the photo was taken. The best the software could suggest, meekly, was that I was probably 22 (I’m 25), and likely somewhere between 15 and 31. Which is broad, but true! iJustine was pegged at 23 (she’s 28), and her expression was described as “surprised”.

Another, clearer photo of myself yielded a confident guess of 33, with a max of 41.

[imgclear] But what about a professional portrait? The kind of thing you’d see in a magazine? This red carpet shot of Miley Cyrus yielded a perfect, software-confident guess of 19 years. They grow up so fast!

You can test your own face (or anyone else’s) here. Have fun, and don’t take it too personally. [Face.com via Engadget] [imgclear]


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