Move Over iPhone X, Scientists Just Created A Gaydar Using Facial Recognition Technology

Source - Software developed at the University of Stanford near California’s Silicon Valley, can tell a person’s sexuality more accurately than humans, suggesting a “gaydar” app may not be far away.

The algorithm was able to tell if a man is gay or straight using one picture 81 per cent of the time, and could determine a woman’s sexuality 74 per cent of the time. Human guesses were much less accurate by comparison, correctly guessing 61 per cent of the time for men and 54 per cent for women. When the computer was given five pictures of a person, it answered correctly 91 per cent of the time for men and 83 per cent for women.

The algorithm was able to detect differences in facial structures that may relate to the level of hormones such as testosterone that foetuses are exposed to in the womb, which may determine sexuality, the developers told The Economist.

However, the technology could put gay people at risk – homosexuality is illegal in dozens of countries, and hate crimes against have soared in recent years.

The researchers did find that the AI was less reliable outside the confines of the experiment, but when asked to pick people it was most confident were gay, nine out of 10 proved correct.

Does this thing give you a yes or no answer or does it go off the Kinsey scale? Because there’s a big difference. I’m looking for a “John is gay enough to go to a Lady Gaga concert, but not gay enough to sing ‘Born This Way’” level of analysis. At the very least, it should use a one-to-ten scale, one being Ric Flair and ten being EJ Johnson. Don’t get me wrong, eighty percent is creepily accurate, but the pictures it was looking at were from a dating site. All it realistically had to do was verify who was shirtless. It would be one thing if I could snap a picture of Shawn Mendes and get the answer we’ve all been waiting for but I can’t. And that has nothing to do with the fact that I’m not allowed within one hundred yards of him.

Sexual orientation identification purposes aside, FRT scares me. The government already has my fingerprints, and bank info; they don’t need my face. If they want it they can find it online. I’m not going to hand it to them on a silver platter. Uncle Chaps said it best, “I’m not going to stunt on myself.”