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arXiv · 2603.27747

AI-Powered Facial Mask Removal Is Not Suitable For Identification

Emily A Cooper·Hany Farid
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Abstract

Recently, crowd-sourced online criminal investigations have used generative-AI to enhance low-quality visual evidence. In one high-profile case, social-media users circulated an "AI-unmasked" image of a federal agent involved in a fatal shooting, fueling a wide-spread misidentification. In response to this and similar incidents, we conducted a large-scale analysis evaluating the efficacy and risks of commercial AI-powered facial unmasking, specifically assessing whether the resulting faces can be reliably matched to true identities.

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Emily A Cooper, Hany Farid. 2026-03-29. AI-Powered Facial Mask Removal Is Not Suitable For Identification. https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.27747

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