If you've ever wondered where and how artificial intelligence fits into the landscape of digital identity, this is the blog post you've been waiting for. It's behind transformative generative tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E, but what happens when artificial intelligence enters the realm of digital identities? To explore this transformative shift, we sat down with Jayesh Mahapatra, a Machine Learning Engineer at 12iD.

 Jayesh specializes in AI, developing and integrating AI solutions for backend and edge. In this discussion, he sheds light on the role of AI within the 12iD product suite and its profound implications for both cybersecurity and the user journey.

Where do we use AI in our products?

At 12iD, artificial intelligence plays a pivotal role in enhancing both security and user experience throughout the entire user journey.

• Security: During the onboarding phase, we employ advanced face recognition technology to match the individual's face with those on their ID card. Additionally, our system utilizes liveness detection to ensure that the user is a genuine person and not attempting to deceive the system with a photo or video recording.

  Our onboarding process involves Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, which cross-references the data entered by the user with the information on their ID card.

  For high-risk or high-value transactions, we offer a live biometrics feature during the verification process. This feature does “live” face recognition to match the user’s selfie to a saved identity. This ensures an even higher level of security, protecting both our users and their assets.

• User Experience: At 12iD, we understand the importance of a seamless and user-friendly onboarding process. To achieve this, we employ AI in several ways. Face detection and various metrics assist users in capturing a high-quality selfie during onboarding. Our system ensures that the face is centered, the eyes are open, and the image is well-lit, creating an effortless and efficient user experience.

  As part of the onboarding process, our OCR technology extracts essential information from ID cards. This extracted data is then used to auto-populate required user data fields, significantly reducing user effort and enhancing the overall onboarding experience.

What unique capabilities does the integration of AI bring to the table?

Integrating AI into our product not only allows us to optimize security and user experience at every step, it also enables us to offer unique security features for high-value use cases.

One such example is a feature we offer called Live Biometrics. This technology allows us to verify that the user conducting transactions through our app precisely matches the identity stored within the app.

What sets Live Biometrics apart is its superiority over the default device biometrics offered by Android or iOS phones. 

These default biometrics systems merely verify if the user matches a pre-enrolled entry in the device, which can be a different person from the one whose identity is being used. Our Live Biometrics goes a step further by verifying the user against the actual identity being used for the transaction. This heightened level of accuracy and security distinguishes our product and ensures a level of trust and reliability.