
By 2026, facial recognition technology (FR) has become one of the most contested applications of artificial intelligence. Once limited to experimental law enforcement tools, FR now operates across airports, smartphones, border crossings, corporate campuses, public surveillance systems, and digital identity platforms. Its growth has been fueled by advances in computer vision, machine learning, and high-resolution camera networks. Facial recognition is a biometric system designed to identify or verify individuals based on measurable facial characteristics. It is used for two primary purposes: verification (confirming a person is who they claim to be) and identification (matching an unknown face to a database).
