Intel announced a $99 facial authentication peripheral device on Wednesday that is being sampled by banks for use in ATMs and by other customers such as airports for access control.
Intel’s RealSense ID also comes as a $79 module and will be available in the first quarter along with an SDK for developers to use to develop applications. The $99 peripheral is about half the size of a business card, and the module is even smaller, about one-tenth the size.
While Intel acknowledged the technology could eventually be incorporated in future PCs, there are no immediate plans to do so.
In an online demonstration for reporters, Intel officials said both devices combine active depth sensors with a specialized neural network to secure and accurate facial authentication.
The module contains two cameras, an illuminator, a system on chip, a projector and a secure element for protecting data.
In recent years, facial recognition technologies introduced for various devices have shown they can be spoofed, but Intel said it can catch all but one in 1 million spoofs that rely on masks, videos or photographs. Officials even demonstrated how a man wearing a COVID-19 mask can be properly identified by the technology, although the reliability is somewhat less unless the person’s nose is exposed outside the mask, according to Sagi Ben Moshe, general manager of emerging technologies at Intel.
The facial recognition data and images collected in training the device is not exposed outside the device, although Intel said a server version can be linked to one of the peripherals for authentication if desired by commercial customers. “We’re not storing video images, just intrinsic data that is mathematically important to our [facial recognition] program,” said Joel Hagberg, head of product marketing at Intel RealSense.
Hagberg said it trained its neural network to work accurately with people with a variety of complexions and ages seen from various angles and even when sporting beards and glasses. Intel said it even commissioned professional mask makers to try to spoof the devices, which failed. The RealSense ID neural network is also designed to adapt over time.
Intel is hosting virtual CES sessions with a variety of new technologies Jan. 12-13.