As well as being a handy skill at school reunions and cocktail parties, facial recognition, specifically AI facial recognition, is hugely beneficial to those with hefty amounts of files sitting in a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system. Why? Because AI facial recognition automatically identifies and ‘tags’ specific people across thousands of files making them instantly searchable. Imagine being able to find key executives, talent or specific groups of people simply by entering their name. There is a big role for facial recognition in digital asset management when it comes to efficiency and compliance. We highlight the advantages and real-word uses to help you make the most of this powerful tech.
What is AI Facial Recognition in a DAM?
Facial recognition technology makes it simple and quick to ID people and retrieve assets across thousands of images – no matter the format. Once a person is tagged and ‘known’ to your DAM, any instance of their appearance is retrieved in seconds. And going forward, every future upload featuring a known person will be tagged automatically.
Now nobody using facial recognition in a DAM needs to know this, but in case you were curious, here’s how it works:
The AI scans an image file to detect human faces.
It then analyzes specific facial characteristics, such as the distance between the eyes, the shape of the nose, and the contour of the jawline.
In a split second, these features are then compared against a database of known identities to find matches.
4. Tagging:
When a match is found, the AI assigns the corresponding name to the detected face, converting these names into searchable tags within the DAM system.
Benefits of using Facial Recognition in a DAM
Time Saving
One of the biggest and most obvious reasons facial recognition is highly valued is how much time it saves in manual tagging. Traditionally, tagging individuals in images was a labor-intensive task, prone to human error and inconsistency. With facial recognition, the process becomes fast, seamless and accurate. It’s AI’s job to scan each image, identify faces, and tag them with the corresponding names. On the flip side, facial recognition tags make it way faster to locate people saving untold hours in search.
Enhanced Searchability
Facial recognition transforms the searchability of digital assets. With automated tagging, users can quickly find images featuring a specific person. Instead of sifting through countless files or relying on vague memory, users can simply search for the individual’s name, and the DAM system will instantly retrieve all relevant assets. This capability is particularly beneficial in large organizations where thousands of images are stored and regularly accessed.
Compliance
Organizations must adhere to various compliance requirements regarding the use and management of digital assets. This is particularly relevant to any recognizable paid and unpaid talent appearing in marketing materials. Facial recognition enhances compliance by ensuring that images are correctly tagged and easily retrievable. For instance, in scenarios where specific people must be excluded from promotional materials due to contractual or legal obligations, facial recognition enables quick identification and removal of such images, reducing the risk of non-compliance.
Consistency
Not only is AI facial recognition tagging more accurate than the human eye, it doesn’t miss the tagging process because it was too busy or forgetful. It consistently applies the same criteria for recognizing and tagging faces, eliminating any errors or oversights. This ultimately ensures the assets in your DAM are easier to manage and retrieve.
AI Facial Recognition in a DAM IRL
Here are some circumstances you may encounter downstream and how AI facial recognition tagging helps:
Senior Leadership Changes
Consider a scenario where a senior executive is prominently featured in a large amount of promotional material. If this executive leaves the business, all uses of their image must be removed to comply with new branding guidelines or contractual agreements. With facial recognition, the DAM system can instantly identify all assets containing the former executive, allowing for swift and comprehensive removal of their images from the organization’s digital library.
License Expiries
In marketing campaigns, talent agreements always specify the duration and mediums for which a model’s image can be used. When the license for a model’s image is about to expire, it is crucial to ensure that all uses of this image are discontinued. Facial recognition facilitates this process by enabling quick identification of all assets featuring the model. You can then take appropriate actions to replace or remove these assets, or renegotiate the talent agreement.
Healthcare Advertising
Hospitals and healthcare organizations frequently use real patients in their advertising campaigns to convey authenticity and trust. However, given the sensitivity of using patient images, it is vital to have a complete view of all instances where a specific patient’s image is used. Facial recognition provides this capability by tagging all images containing the patient, making it easy to track and manage their use. This ensures that the organization respects patient consent and privacy, maintaining compliance with healthcare regulations.
Education Advertising
Most educational institutions will request blanket consent to use images and footage of student and teaching staff. Schools need to ensure they are honoring those consent agreements across all promotional materials. Facial recognition can be linked to consent forms, automatically tagging and flagging images based on the given permissions. This ensures that only authorized images are used, reducing the risk of privacy violations. The same rules apply to events, tourism and sporting clubs, including fan engagement.
Train your DAM to use AI Facial Recognition
Once facial recognition technology is a part of your DAM system you’ll wonder how you managed without it. It enriches your assets with another layer of searchable metadata and completely revolutionizes the way you manage digital assets featuring people. Whether it’s increased efficiency or compliance, this tech ultimately boosts your team’s overall performance.
If you’d like to learn more about AI facial recognition or other forms of AI tagging in a DAM, drop us a line.
