AI face scanners will let fans go ticket-free at a London stadium

AnyVision’s full-body scans, which will use AI-powered facial recognition at a London stadium this year so fans can go ticketless.
AnyVision

Facial recognition software claimed to be as accurate as the human brain will be deployed at a London stadium for the first time so that fans can go ticketless.

A system from AnyVision, a company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, uses artificial intelligence to scan the whole face rather than record only metrics, such as the distance between the eyes, nose, mouth and jawline.

Eylon Etshtein, the founder, has revealed that the technology “will be available at a London stadium this summer, but we can’t say where just yet”.

It emerged last month that the Metropolitan police’s crowd-scanning facial recognition software, which uses biometrics, created 98 per cent “false positive” results. It was dropped for use at the Notting Hill Carnival.

Facial recognition pictures by AnyVision
AnyVision

Speaking at the Ifsec International Security Show at the ExCel in Newham, Mr Etshtein dismissed concerns from campaigners about his technology being invasive, saying people were increasingly open to trading their privacy for convenience. In this case the scanners could help sports or music fans get to their seats quicker, he said.

Cameras can get a reading up to three metres away in 0.3 seconds, Mr Etshtein claimed, adding that the chance of a false-positive was “once in a million”. The software also comes with a “privacy mode” for operators to pixelate faces and bodies. “People want seamless access to a stadium and for everything to be super-simple,” he said. “They want to enter without stopping, without waiting to scan a barcode or for the card reader to work.” He added: “Using your face means no one can fake it.”

The company has also developed gun, body and bag recognition software. Mr Etshtein said: “Using our system, if there’s an automatic alert for unattended baggage, we associate the bag with the face of the person who was sitting next to it, and we try to identify if they are still in the airport.”

German engineering giant Bosch announced yesterday it had bought a nine per cent stake in AnyVision. Asked whether British police or military were customers of his company, Mr Etshtein declined to comment.

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