Your smartphone locks itself when you look away. A camera autofocuses the instant a face enters the frame. A retail store counts visitors without recording who they are.
All of these moments rely on the same underlying technology: AI face detection. It’s one of the most widely deployed computer vision capabilities in the world, and most people encounter it dozens of times a day without realizing it.
This article explains what AI face detection actually is, how it works under the hood, where it shows up in real products today, and what risks and regulations are shaping how it can be used.