In the third episode of Chinese TV show My Future, Yin Qi, CEO of Megvii (Face++) was invited as a guest scientist. Yin Qi brought the latest technologies powered by Face++ and accepted AI vs. human challenge on the show, including memorizing and face recognition. The show soon reached 1st place on viewership since it aired.
My future aims at introducing young and inspiring scientists who dream to change the world through entrepreneurship, in hope of inspiring more young talents to dream big and fight for it. Among these young scientists, Face++ is undoubtedly one of the most promising team.
1. New Face Cognitive Technologies
Yin Qi, CEO of Face++, brought the latest technology of “SKYNET” to the show. SKYNET is capable of precisely detect and recognize specified person among 500 on-site audiences, including twins who have identical facial features.
Yin Qi stated that AI and deep-learning technologies are developing in such a high speed that we are now able to utilize machines to identify the target precisely. The technology behind “SKYNET” has been applied to public security fields, helping police department in more than 20 cities in China to crack down on over 500 crimes.
2. Safety Rules
Yin also suggested that unlike traditional face recognition technologies, safety issues is highly emphasized in the latest technologies. Hence in addition to “SKYNET,” Yin Qi also brought another technology, “the defense door.”
“Imagine this door can be anywhere or in any situation, it could be your house door, the main gate in your community or even the virtual doors that we log in to any websites” Yin said “now this door has registered to my face and my face only, so I am the only person who can unlock the door.”
Hoping to spoof the system, several challengers tried different methods, including using a same size picture of Yin Qi and a realistic mask. However, none of them succeeded, and the “the defense door” is capable of detecting which spoofing approach that was been used.
“People often imagine that face recognition is based only on how a face looks like, however, in reality machines recognize a face not only by facial features but also by determining whether or not it is living” Yin explained.
Picture spoofing is a more common way of attacking the system, most face detect technologies can successfully block it. As for realistic masks, unlike pictures, videos and 3D avatars, they re-create human facial features. It still requires specific hardware which can detect facial material so as to stop spoofing attack from utilizing realistic masks. Therefore, it is emphasized that face recognition is only one approach to identify human, under certain scenarios that need the highest level of security, it would still require a combination of different verification methods to mitigate risks.
3. Build The Eye of Machine, And Be Ambitious For Future
Neither “SKYNET” or “the defense door” is the ultimate goal for Megvii. In the show, Yin said that the mission for Megvii is to build an eye of machine.
AI is a huge research field, AI vision and face recognition are merely a small part of it. However, human acquires 80% of all the information by vision. Thus for AI, visual perception is also the most basic capability. Megvii chooses to help machines understand the world starting from recognizing human faces, and hoping that it will expand to recognizing human, vehicles, texts and even other objects in the future.
“There are countless cameras and filming device in our daily lives, but most of them only record rather than understand.” Yin Qi stated “so from when Megvii was founded 6 years ago, the mission is to build the eye of machine, to empower machines to understand the world. Once we make it, it would be a milestone in the history of AI.” 
At last, Yin Qi suggested, “a real hero is the one who uses his own strength to make human progress.” “We are living in a wonderful era. I have confidence and ambition that we can become the greatest Chinese-based AI company in the world. I really encourage young talents to be ambitious, to dream big and fight for it, because one day it will come true.” In the end, Yin re-emphasized his thoughts “dreams are dreams if you stop fighting for it, we must live in the moment, be a down-to-earth entrepreneur and a realistic idealist.”
