In biometric technology, understanding the distinctions between facial detection and facial recognition is essential for deploying the right solution in various contexts. These terms are often confused, but they serve different purposes with distinct implications for security, customer experience, and privacy.
Facial Detection: Locating Faces Without Identifying Individuals
Facial detection refers to the process of identifying the presence of a human face in an image or video feed. The system detects patterns characteristic of a face—such as the arrangement of eyes, nose, and mouth—but it does not attempt to identify the individual.
One of the key advantages of facial detection is that it does not store or compare images in a database, making it a more privacy-friendly technology. This makes it ideal for applications where the goal is to analyse demographic data without linking it to specific individuals.
For example, retailers can use facial detection to gather information about customer demographics, such as age or gender, without …