The measuring of a human attribute is referred to as a biometric.
It might be physiological, like fingerprint or face identification, or behavioral, like keystroke pattern dynamics or walking stride length.
Biometric characteristics are defined by the White House National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Biometrics as "measurable biological (anatomical and physiological) and behavioral traits that may be employed for automated recognition" (White House, National Science and Technology Council 2006, 4).
Biometric technologies are "technologies that automatically confirm the identity of people by comparing patterns of physical or behavioral characteristics in real time against enrolled computer records of those patterns," according to the International Biometrics and Identification Association (IBIA) (International Biometrics and Identification Association 2019).
Many different biometric technologies are either in use or being developed.
Previously used to access personal smartphones, pay for goods and services, and verify identities for various online accounts and physical facilities, fingerprints are now used to access personal smartphones, pay for goods and services, and verify identities for various online accounts and physical facilities.
The most well-known biometric technology is finger print recognition.
Ultrasound, thermal, optical, and capacitive sensors may all be used to acquire fingerprint image collections.
In order to find matches, AI software applications often use minutia-based matching or pattern matching.
By lighting up the palm, sensors capture pictures of human veins, and vascular pattern identification is now feasible.
Other common biometrics are based on facial, iris, or voice characteristics.
Recognizing people by their faces Individual identification, verification, detection, and characterization may all be possible with AI technology.
Detection and characterization processes rarely involve determining an individual's identity.
Although current systems have great accuracy rates, privacy problems arise since a face might be gathered passively, that is, without the subject's awareness.
Iris identification makes use of near-infrared light to extract the iris's distinct structural characteristics.
The retinal blood vessels are examined using retinal technology, which employs a strong light.
The scanned eyeball is compared to the stored picture to evaluate recognition.
Voice recognition is a more advanced technology than voice activation, which identifies speech content.
Each individual user must be able to be identified via voice recognition.
To present, technology has not been sufficiently precise to allow for trustworthy identification in many situations.
For security and law enforcement applications, biometric technology has long been accessible.
However, in the private sector, these systems are increasingly being employed as a verification mechanism for authentication that formerly needed a password.
The introduction of Apple's iPhone fingerprint scanner in 2013 raised public awareness.
The company's newer models have shifted to face recognition access, which further normalizes the notion.
Financial services, transportation, health care, facility access, and voting are just a few of the industries where biometric technology is being used.
~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan
You may also want to read more about Artificial Intelligence here.
See also:
Biometric Privacy and Security.
Further Reading
International Biometrics and Identity Association. 2019. “The Technologies.” https://www.ibia.org/biometrics/technologies/.
White House. National Science and Technology Council. 2006. Privacy and Biometrics: Building a Conceptual Foundation. Washington, DC: National Science and Technology Council. Committee on Technology. Committee on Homeland and National Security. Subcommittee on Biometrics.
