Italian startup released clothes to deceive facial recognition systems

The owner of a stylish item of clothing, caught in the field of view of the camera, will either not be identified at all, or the recognition system will take him for an animal.

A startup from Italy Cap_able has released a clothing line that confuses artificial intelligence systems, not allowing them to recognize the owner. PetaPixel is about it.

An unusual collection of clothes, called the Manifesto Collection, includes various knitwear – sweatshirts, trousers, T-shirts and dresses.

The fact is that the print for each item of clothing was created by artificial intelligence. Fancy patterns can confuse facial recognition systems that use the most common family of architectures to detect YOLO objects.

The owner of a stylish item of clothing, caught in the field of view of the camera, will either not be identified at all, or the recognition system will take him for an animal disguised in the drawing (it can be a zebra, a giraffe or a dog).

Each item of clothing was subjected to a special “adversarial patch” developed by artificial intelligence algorithms to confuse real-time facial recognition software and protect the owner’s privacy.

The authors of the collection claim that the developed collection of clothes is not only a shield that hides a person from cameras with artificial intelligence systems, but also a manifesto designed to draw attention to the problem of protection against improper use of facial recognition systems.

The aim of the Manifesto Collection is to raise awareness of the right to privacy and the protection of biometric data such as a face image. This problem is often underestimated, despite the fact that it affects the majority of citizens around the world.

Ignoring the problem can contribute to the infringement of individual rights, including freedom of expression, association and free movement in public places.