One area that artificial intelligence has brought massive changes to in our life is the area of fingerprint recognition technology. The technology got pressed with much weight from many of the law enforcement agencies and even systems of security, and, above all, the mobile device because of in-depth and at the same time driven identification mechanisms of AI.
In the sprawling metropolis of New City
Technological innovation is inseparably mixed with everyday life in the story of AI in fingerprint recognition. Dr. Emily Carter is an outstanding computer scientist at the New City Tech Institute, doing research on AI. Her field of specialization includes attempts at pushing applications of AI into biometrics, particularly fingerprint recognition.
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Being interested in the field only after completing graduate studies at NCTI, it was here that Dr. Carter became absorbed with the possibilities the use of neural networks provided in simulating a truly unique feature of the human brain: learning complex patterns and being able to distinguish these patterns upon demand. Her early work involved the development of algorithms for the rapid matching and classification of fingerprints—a task that up until that time was a specialized task reserved only for trained forensic experts.
“At AI, we train machines to visual patterning,” Dr. Carter had been saying all term. “Conversely, fingerprint recognition is a typical example where AI excels: it deals with highly précised detail and very much unique patterning; it looks like a signature, distinguishable and highly intricate.”
She could make a deep learning model able to analyze the minutiae of a fingerprint—small details in the outline of designs and points at which curves end or split. These minutiae, which form a characteristic, individual pattern for every fingerprint, run into hundreds in number for any fingerprint.
“The challenge,” Dr. Carter explained to a tech magazine with a shrug, “was teaching the AI to be able to tell the difference between real prints and partials or impression smudgies-most common in everyday life.”
However, the team of Mr. Carter initialized this challenge by training its AI model in vaster datasets of fingerprints, starting from the criminal databases through to immigration records, and even historical fingerprint archives. It was seeded with up to several million fingerprint images to learn every natural humanity incumbent in varying fingerprint types and qualities.
The Carter Lab developed an AI-driven fingerprint recognition system; among the very first places that started using it was the New City Police Department. It did not take long before it started showing practical applications. The head of the Forensic Investigations Unit, Inspector Alex Ramirez, recalled the change it had brought into their daily practice.
“Before this time of AI,” Ramirez explained during a demo in their ultra-modern forensic laboratory, “matchings that were needed, like fingerprints, were an ever exorbitant process that required trained analysts to manually compare the prints, often taking hours or even days.”
Dr. Carter’s team, consisting of an AI, has conducted work in a few minutes that previously took days. What is more, this AI can handle quickly, not only fingerprint matching but also all sorts of complex tasks involving high accuracy regarding matching partial or degraded prints.
“We can solve cases faster now,” added Ramirez, “and our identifications are pretty accurate. It has now become vital for our crime fighting.”
Other than government applications, AI-powered fingerprint recognition was applied in daily application. The AI algorithms were used to authenticate the dignity of the users securely by mobile phones that had fingerprint scanners. The thermal power sector can use software to ensure their security. Banks and financial institutions relying on AI to verify the identities for the transactions have been more secure in fraud management.
Even more chilling implications came from further research by Dr. Carter. She and her research assistants were creating an aging pattern of fingerprints which may very well turn out to be an entirely new area of study dedicated to reconstructing older prints from partial or degraded samples.
“In the future, AI could have a much greater role in biometrics,” Dr. Carter stated reflectively in a presentation at a conference. “We are working on the integration of several biometric modalities—like fingerprints, iris scans, and facial recognition—to be fused into unified AI systems capable of really delivering robust identity verification.”
Her vision set the pace for many tech companies and security agencies worldwide, leading to a number of collaborations. The group got to work on global datasets and kickstarted work on a cross-border identity verification system and international security protocols.
However, some of these issues were not so easy to sweep under the carpet. But with AI-driven biometric systems running in so many places, concerns soon aroused over privacy. There was just so much personal data stored away, with no one really knowing if anybody was capable of handling such volumes, or inversely, misusing/breaching them.
It is in regard to this that Dr. Carter has always been very keen on and henceforth recommends observance of transparency and rigorous data protection measures to be carried on in the development process of Artificial Intelligence.
“We have a duty,” further expressed in a really popular TED Talk viewed by millions, “to make sure that AI technologies are used ethically and responsibly. Privacy and security have to be at the helm as we move forward innovatively.”
She is such a strong advocate that the lawmakers and captains of industry now implement international standards on the use of AI in biometrics, with tight regulations on the data handling practice.
The role of AI in fingerprint recognition only continued to grow in New City. Leading NCTI, Dr. Carter’s alma mater opened a well-funded research center—of course headed by Dr. Carter—on AI in issues of biometrics and cyber security. Students of all kinds flocked to them, inspired by her leading edge work in AI and driven by her commitment to ethical AI.
It seemed rather optimistic, looking back from the standpoint of a graduate student to leading in AI research: AI-driven technologies don’t just drive innovation, they should also be a force for good in society.
“Technology should empower and protect. On biometrics and more so, AI has the capacity to enrich our lives and safeguard our identities. It’s upon us that it does so in a responsible way.”
More than that, on most of the broad streets of New City—most anywhere, in fact—the saga of AI fingerprint recognition is playing out: innovation, ethics, and technological change led by people like Dr. Emily Carter.
Source: ScitechDaily
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