Meme stock Alfi’s facial recognition ad technology fans privacy concerns

A file photo of a traveler pushing a trolley past international check in counter at KLIA. Brazil’s Sao Paulo airport already features some Alfi reactive screens and the company is expanding its tablet programme for ride-hailing vehicles, which was in testing mode with about 500 drivers in South Florida, to about 13 markets in the US. — AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star

Alfi Inc, a small artificial intelligence software company, has ambitious plans to use facial recognition to target individualised ads to people as they walk through an airport, a shopping mall or stare at a screen in the back of an Uber.

The idea could resonate with an ad industry that’s grappling with the demise of tracking people across the Internet through cookies. But the company, which has yet to sign up more than one advertiser, is also sparking some of the same concerns about privacy that has stymied even the more traditional tech giants.