By Margo H. K. Tank, David Whitaker, Andrew Grant and Liz Caires

On December 19, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a federal agency within the Department of Commerce, released a study on demographic differentials for contemporary face recognition algorithms.

The study describes and quantifies demographic differentials for contemporary face recognition algorithms. Essentially, the purpose of the study was to measure how accurately face recognition software tools identify people of varied sex, age and racial background.

The results of the report are intended to inform policymakers and to help software developers better understand the performance of their algorithms. Learn more here.