HP: Our Computers Aren't Racist

Face-tracking software has a definite bias
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 22, 2009 3:00 PM CST

Hewlett-Packard apparently needs a more diverse approach to product-testing: a viral video shows that the company's latest webcam face-tracking software doesn't work so well on black faces. HP has responded that the software measures the "intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose," and may have trouble working "in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting," Gizmodo reports.

"Not very bright," writes Ken Wheaton at Advertising Age. "I know some tech engineers can be a little dim when it comes to recognizing how equipment will work with actual humans, but aren't there other stops along the product-development way?" (More Hewlett Packard stories.)

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