Automatic Face-Recognition Software Getting Better

Facebook has developed a face-recognition system that works almost as well as the human brain:

Asked whether two unfamiliar photos of faces show the same person, a human being will get it right 97.53 percent of the time. New software developed by researchers at Facebook can score 97.25 percent on the same challenge, regardless of variations in lighting or whether the person in the picture is directly facing the camera.

Human brains are optimized for facial recognition, which makes this even more impressive.
This kind of technology will change video surveillance. Right now, it's general, and identifying people is largely a forensic activity. This will make cameras part of an automated process for identifying people.