AI can guess whether you're gay or straight from a photo

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Artificial Intelligence can now accurately identify a person's sexual orientation by analyzing photos of their face, according to new research.

The study from Stanford University found that a computer algorithm could correctly distinguish between gay and straight men 81 percent of the time, and 74 percent for women. 

The program relied on 130,741 images of 36,630 men and 170,360 images of 38,593 women downloaded from a popular American dating website, which makes its profiles public. 

The study has raised questions about the biological origins of sexual orientation, the ethics of facial-detection technology, and the potential for this kind of software to violate people's privacy or be abused for anti-LGBT purposes.

Michal Kosinski and Yilun Wang, the lead researchers of the study, suggested the software was able to find subtle differences in facial structure between gay and straight people and therefore could accurately conclude their sexual orientation.

The research found that gay men and women typically had "gender-atypical" features and expressions. While a person's "grooming style" also factored in to the computer algorithm, essentially suggesting gay women appeared more masculine and vice versa.

When the AI reviewed five images of a person's face, rather than one, the results were even more convincing — 91 percent of the time with men and 83 percent of the time with women.

But the study has limitations. Images from a dating site are likely to be particularly revealing of sexual orientation. The 91 percent accuracy rate only applies when one of the two men whose images are shown is known to be gay. Outside the lab the accuracy rate would be much lower. 

Besides, people of color were not included in the study, and there was no consideration of transgender or bisexual people. 

The paper indicated its findings showed "strong support" for the theory that a person's sexual orientation stems from the exposure to various hormones before birth. The AI's success rate in comparison to human judges also appeared to back the concept that female sexual orientation is more fluid.

The researchers behind the study argued that with the appropriate data sets, similar AI tests could spot other personal traits such as an individual's IQ or even their political views. However, Kosinski and Wang also warned of the potentially dangerous ramifications such AI machines could have on the LGBT community.

Is it terrifying?

Sources: CNBC, Guardian, the Economist

Editor: Zhang Xi

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