Facial recognition returned to the latest Google Pixel phones on Thursday after a short hiatus due to challenges on cost and performance, according to three former employees at the Alphabet Inc unit knowledgeable about the efforts.
\nThe feature on the new Pixel 7 is not as good Apple Inc\u2019s Face ID unlocking mechanism, as it can struggle in low light and is more vulnerable to being spoofed. In addition, Google has said it is not secure enough to enable signing into apps or making payments.
\nThe return comes after Google became stricter about launching products with facial recognition, in part due to questions about its performance on darker skin. The company took time to review its approach to training and testing facial recognition since the previous Pixel with the capability launched in 2019, one of the sources said.
\nGoogle declined to comment on several specific questions about its history with face unlock. It said generally, \u201cThanks to advanced machine learning models for face recognition, Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro feature Face Unlock, but we\u2019re doing it a little differently.\u201d
\nIt added, \u201cWe achieve good facial accuracy performance with the front-facing camera.\u201d
\nGoogle\u2019s pursuit of face unlock for Android smartphones spans at least a decade, but it came under greater pressure when Apple released Face ID in September 2017, the sources said.
\nTo that point, Google struggled to devise a system that both performed quickly and was impervious to spoofing, or the use of photos or hyper-realistic costumes to fool someone else\u2019s phone into unlocking, one of the sources said.
\nEngineers toyed with requiring a smile or a blink \u2014 proving a person\u2019s \u201cliveness\u201d \u2014 to combat spoofing but it was awkward and slow, the source said.
\nAnother source noted that after the arrival of Apple\u2019s Face ID, which uses a depth-sensing and infrared camera called TrueDepth to map a face, Google executives signed off on a comparable technology. Google\u2019s Pixel 4, released in 2019, called its infrared depth-sensing setup uDepth.
\nIt performed well, including in dark conditions, with no more than a 1-in-50,000 chance that it would unlock a phone for an unauthorized face, according to Google.
\nBut the gear was expensive. And while Apple sells 240 million iPhones annually, Google has topped out at a few million, preventing it from buying parts at the volume discounts Apple does.
\nGoogle dropped uDepth in the Pixel 5 in 2020 due to costs, the sources said.
\nFace masking because of the pandemic gave Google reason to exclude the feature from last year\u2019s Pixel 6 and additional research time, two sources said.
\nFace unlock on the new phones relies on a typical front camera. But unlike the previous system, it cannot securely unlock apps and payments because Google says spoofing chances \u2014 such as by holding up a user\u2019s photo \u2014 are greater than 20 per cent, above the 7pc threshold it requires to be considered most \u201csecure\u201d.
\nLow light and sunglasses also can cause trouble, Google says, noting fingerprint unlock remains an alternative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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