A face worth... whatever your credit card limit is: Facial recognition payment system turns your face into a PIN

The “world’s fastest payment system” uses facial recognition technology to authorise transactions

A tech start-up based in Helsinki has developed the world’s first facial recognition payment system. Designed to effectively transform your face into your PIN, the terminals use cameras to confirm your identity, meaning all the shopper needs to do is look into the lens and press OK.

In fact, the “world’s fastest payment system” can even recognise individuals as they approach the cashier, meaning transactions could be completed in less than five seconds, potentially destroying the market for supermarket queue impulse buys in the process.

To register, all you need to do is have your credit card. While you enter your details into the system the camera snaps away, taking enough photos to constantly recognise you.

As for security, the data is protected by “military grade algorithms” and it would be near impossible to cheat the system.

“The cameras aren’t using photos, but use a mathematical model of the face, so it’s very personal and unique,” says Uniqul’s chief business development officer Ruslan Pisarenko. “Even twins that look the same have tiny differences. We’ve been asked a lot about plastic surgery, too, but it would never result in the same mathematical model. The system will be able to recognise if it’s a person’s real, live face and a mask.”

Uniqul plans to install the first units across Finland in a month’s time. Should the devices become commonplace, the days of having to remember your pin will be a thing of the past. Just as long as you leave the house with your head screwed on.