Ask HN: Is it possible to create a image processing based lie detector?

2 points by sumitviii 3 years ago | 9 comments

Hello, Seeing how most people who guess well if someone is lying do it from 'reading a face', it can be said that there must be auditory and visual cues in a person's expressions that reveal if someone is lying. Is it possible to create a lie detector just based on reading and processing someone's facial expressions and voice?

This can have a lot of uses. Courts can know if a defendant is guilty or innocent immediately in almost all cases. Businesses can know if their suppliers and employees are capable. Employees can know if the employer will actually give them the raise that they have been promising. We may all be able to know if our dear politicians are lying.

This will improve our lives and it seems like a marketable product. Why hasn't anyone made it so far.

leephillips 3 years ago |

Do you have any evidence that there are people “who guess well if someone is lying”? In the absence of a controlled, reproduced study, I’ll stick with my default assumption, that this is just another rumor or superstition.

gus_massa 3 years ago |

Note that the effectiveness usual lie detector is quite dubious https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph#Effectiveness I expect this method to be also ineffective and used to make false accusations.

anigbrowl 3 years ago |

Sure, you can use a photocopier as a lie detector if your subject is sufficiently gullible. The real questions are why you think it's needed and what level of abuse/misapplication you're willing to be responsible for.

If your use cases cases as described in the OP are for real rather than satirical, you are a naive person and should spend more time reading about the history of technology to understand how and why good intentions can have catastrophic outcomes.

nosmokewhereiam 3 years ago |