It sounds like something straight out of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror series, but this is happening.
An app has been created that lets you find someone's social media profiles - just by taking a photo of their face. The ramifications of this are huge. Hypothetically, people could take pictures of you in public and find out everything you have readily available on your Facebook/Twitter/Instagram profile.
In terms of advertising, when you walk into a shop, companies would know you've been there and be able to target advertisements straight onto your newsfeed.
Advert
However, it's not all creepy. The technology has already been used to track down criminals through CCTV footage. That's really cool.
The app is called FindFace and it has 70% accuracy.
So far, it doesn't work with Facebook. It was developed in Russia and works with popular social network, Vkontakte. It has been downloaded 500,000 times.
Its founders, 26-year-old Artem Kukharenko and 29-year-old Alexander Kabakov are incredibly excited about the potential of their app.
Advert
Kabakov said: "If you see someone you like, you can photograph them, find their identity, and then send them a friend request.
"With this algorithm, you can search through a billion photographs in less than a second from a normal computer."
Duuuuude. That's super creepy. Stick to focusing on the whole 'catching criminals' bit. Or like, the fact it could possibly help find missing people? No? Okay.
Advert
The next bit is even weirder, he continued: "It also looks for similar people. So you could just upload a photo of a movie star you like, or your ex, and then find 10 girls who look similar to her and send them messages."
Advert
Wait a minute... your ex?! Woah. This is getting weirder by the second.
Please give us your opinions in the comments below, I'm dying to hear them.
Words by Mel Ramsay
Featured image credit: Getty
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Technology