APSU’s Science on Tap returns Jan. 7 with talk on facial recognition technology

Last August, all New York City police officers received a text message with the name and photo of a suspected terrorist. The man had caused a panic that morning by leaving suspicious objects – rice cookers – on a Manhattan subway platform. Thanks to the NYPD’s Facial Identification Section, surveillance footage of the suspect helped identify him as Larry Griffin II, and by the end of the day, he was in jail.

At 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7, Dr. James Church, Austin Peay State University associate professor of computer science, will discuss the extraordinary and sometimes frightening advances in facial recognition technology during the January Science on Tap event at Strawberry Alley Ale Works.

“Face detection algorithms are found in cameras, on Facebook to allow users to quickly tag their friends, and on SnapChat to create funny videos,” Church said. “Deep fake videos use the same face detection technology and allow users to create videos of a person giving any message the user wants them to say.”

 Science on Tap, which takes place the first Tuesday of each month, is an ongoing lecture series hosted by APSU’s College of STEM that unites two great things: science and local brews. Past topics have included the science of beer and “The Snake that Ate Guam.” Church’s talk is titled, “Looking at Faces: Have you ever wondered how Facebook automatically finds your friends in your photographs?”

“We will be exploring how the human face is understood in humans and computers,” Church said. “We will be going over some of the scientific research in how humans understand the human face. We will then explore the Viola-Jones algorithm that allows computers to quickly identify human faces in photographs. We will conclude the talk with applications of the Viola-Jones algorithm, such as face swapping and deep fake videos (videos that realistically recreate the mannerisms of people without their involvement). We will conclude the talk with the ethical considerations of deep fakes.”

The monthly Science on Tap series has grown in popularity since its debut last fall, prompting Strawberry Alley Ale Works to move this month’s event to the larger “Upstairs” location on the second floor of the restaurant.