Biometrics: Eyes in the sky?

Biometric technology promises both security and convenience: there's a reason the leading smartphone makers have adopted face ID, or fingerprint scanners.

But improvements in computing power and AI, as well as more powerful sensors, have opened up entirely new fields, such as remote surveillance.

Are we comfortable with systems that can pick out a face from a crowd?

And how do we feel about artificial intelligence making decisions about those images, such as whether someone’s actions look suspicious?

Our guest is one of the leading experts on these issues. Tony Porter was formerly the UK Surveillance Camera Commissioner, and a former senior police officer. He’s now the chief privacy officer at Corsight – a developer of facial recognition software.

He argues that surveillance, biometrics and even AI will make us more secure – but only if we can secure the technology itself.

Interview by Stephen Pritchard