Human vs machine learning in face recognition: a case study from the travel industry

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This research was conducted to help answer whether a machine learning simulation can replace the human ability to recognize human faces, especially under challenges under travel industry requirements. The human ability to recognize faces was evaluated using a series of questions in a survey. The questions challenged the human respondents to recognize faces under similar looks, with hair and makeup disguises, only part of the facial area, and under dark lighting conditions. At the same time, a histogram of oriented gradient (HoG) combined with a support vector machine (SVM) was built for machine learning simulations. The machine learning was evaluated using two datasets, i.e., the Extended Yale B (EYB) Face dataset for challenge under dark lighting conditions and The Extended Makeup Face Dataset (EMFD) for challenge using face with makeup disguise. The results showed that machine learning simulation of the face recognition system yielded accuracy as high as 95.4% under dark lighting conditions and 70.8% under facial makeup disguise. On the contrary, only 48% of respondents accurately recognized human faces in dark lighting. The number was increased to 94-96% when the face images were adjusted first with the contrast adjustment method. However, only 36-37% of respondents accurately recognized human faces under face makeup disguise.