Facial Recognition: How a forgotten AI pioneer, the CIA, and Google Glass are helping the visually impaired

Every person’s face is unique. We intuitively know that to be true. But what exactly makes your face different from another person? And how can we measure and quantify that difference to make the world more accessible for the visually impaired? In this episode, journalist Shaun Raviv tells us how he uncovered the top secret history of facial recognition technology and its inventor, Woody Bledsoe. Then Karthik Kannan explains how a conversation with a group of visually impaired students inspired him to build glasses that can recognize human faces.

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The inventor of facial recognition software was years ahead of the competition but never got credit for his work because it was kept secret by the CIA. The first VR glove was a groundbreaking piece of tech that would eventually become one of the gaming industry's biggest flops. And when Kodak execs were shown an early prototype of the first digital camera, they flat out rejected the idea. In each episode of Ahead of Its Time, you'll explore the forgotten origins of today’s most transformative technology, hear from the people who first imagined it, delve into their past and relive their eureka moments. Join host, podcast producer and queen of tech storytelling Julia Furlan to discover why these inventors struggled to get their ideas off the ground. Then meet the next generation of innovators who are building on the work of the tech underdogs who came before them.