Ticketmaster is testing facial recognition technology for concerts
When you get to a concert or festival, the last thing you want to do is stand in line waiting to get in. With all the technology available, there has to be an easier way than waiting for a person at the door to scan the barcode on your ticket.
And while we’re at it, why do we need physical tickets anymore? If you’ve ever used the RFID bands some festivals deploy, you’ll know how much better they are than physical tickets. But what’s the step beyond that?
According to Ticketmaster and a company called Blink Identity, it might be facial recognition.
With all the developments in AI, machine learning and camera tech, it may soon be possible to just walk into a show without showing anything other than your face.
Blink Identity claims to able to identify people “in half a second” when walking past its gear. And no, you don’t have to look straight at the camera. You just walk on by.
How the company will figure out what you look like in the first place is still a bit sketchy. Will Ticketmaster (and its parent Live Nation) require that you enter your visage in a database of faces? And wouldn’t this mean that all concert venues would be under constant surveillance? How comfortable would you be with either prospect?
There’s no word on if the technology works as advertised or whether Ticketmaster will deploy it. But they are looking at it.
(Via The Verge)
Sure, this sounds like a huge time saver, but its not the ticket scanning that slows the process down. The biggest delay in getting in the gates is security screening. Scanning a ticket takes a fraction of a second but the bag checks and pat downs before the ticket scan are where the line slows down. Most times the ticket scanners are waiting for people after they get through security.
Facial recognition or not, I’d rather have good security at a concert than have the convenience of everyone being able to walk right in.