Privacy concerns have been raised after two Harvard students just demoed a proof-of-concept system called I-XRAY which uses smart glasses to access personal information about others.
The system combines the use of the glasses along with custom software to ID strangers and retrieve personal data about them. The system has been coined ‘I-XRAY.’
The students, AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio, took to the social media platform X to share their experiment writing: “Are we ready for a world where our data is exposed at a glance?”
Are we ready for a world where our data is exposed at a glance? @CaineArdayfio and I offer an answer to protect yourself here:https://t.co/LhxModhDpk pic.twitter.com/Oo35TxBNtD
— AnhPhu Nguyen (@AnhPhuNguyen1) September 30, 2024
They tested I-XRAY on Harvard’s campus and correctly identified random people, before taking it to the subway to test on non-students.
Five technologies have been used and integrated to make the system function. To use it, people simply put the glasses on, then as you walk by people the glasses will detect when somebody’s face is in the frame.
From there, the photo will be used for analysis and I-XRAY will be able to bring up their personal information including photos, family data, and even home addresses.
Creators of I-XRAY won’t be releasing it
The system brings up the information automatically as it leverages the ability of LLMs to “understand, process, and compile vast amounts of information from diverse sources – inferring relationships between online sources, such as linking a name from one article to another…”
Nguyen and Ardafiyo expand further in an online document: “This synergy between LLMs and reverse face search allows for fully automatic and comprehensive data extraction that was previously not possible with traditional methods alone.
“From the LLM extracted name, a FastPeopleSearch lookup can identify the person’s home address, phone number, and their relatives.
The two creators of the system say the tool “quickly highlighted significant privacy concerns.”
In a document where they give people the know-how to remove their information from online sources, they write that the purpose of building the system isn’t for misuse and will not be released.
“Our goal is to demonstrate the current capabilities of smart glasses, face search engines, LLMs, and public databases, raising awareness that extracting someone’s home address and other personal details from just their face on the street is possible today.”
While the duo won’t be publicly releasing I-XRAY, the demo alone does expose the concerns for privacy and surveillance in the new AI age.
Featured Image: AI-generated via Ideogram
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