Image Recognition
Why it matters: The US Air Force has begun implementing facial recognition into its autonomous drones. The Air Force intends to use the technology for Intelligence gathering and as support in "other missions." Since then, RealNetworks shifted its focus to machine learning and facial recognition, developing the Secure Accurate Facial Recognition (SAFR) platform in 2018. New Scientist notes that in 2021, RealNetworks scored a $729,000 Phase II defense contract with the Pentagon to adapt SAFR to small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS). The USAF claims it does not fly unmanned drones without human supervision.