Facial recognition technology in China beaten by a nose job
- Young woman’s appearance altered so drastically system can no longer identify her
- Despite the inconvenience, she is happy with her new look
A young woman in eastern China found her life turned upside down when plastic surgery altered her appearance so drastically she was banned from online payment gateways and unable to sign in to work.
The woman, who was identified only by the pseudonym Huan Huan, told her local television station on the weekend that her troubles had begun a month before when she had cosmetic surgery on her nose.
The change in her appearance was too much for China’s widely used facial recognition software, which was no longer able to identify Huan Huan, 21, from Wenzhou in Zhejiang province.
Speaking on Wenzhou City Television, Huan said she discovered she had been logged out of the online shopping and payment gateways she used because the secure identification process, backed by facial recognition technology, simply did not know who she was.
Huan said her work was also affected as she could no longer sign in and off work by scanning her face. Checking in to hotels and boarding high-speed trains had also become a problem as she had used facial recognition to register on those platforms, the report said.