IDnow recently announced the release of their product AutoIdent Substantial, the first-ever Artificial Intelligence (AI) identity verification solution that has been approved by the EU’s eIDAS Regulation for identification services.

IDnow is a video and electronic signature identification company that uses AI to check all security features on ID documents, helping to reliably identify forged documents. Additionally, achieving five out of five stars on the Trustpilot customer rating portal, IDnow technology is considered particularly user-friendly. As one of the companies that was leading the conversation with British government to issue immunity credentials using their software, IDnow has previously been at the forefront of current issues such as the COVID-19 crisis.

“IDnow is proud to be the only company to possess an approval for certification at this level of assurance for a fully-automated AI product. Understanding the industry and the emerging needs of our clients and prospective users, we knew what to do and harnessed our technological and regulatory leadership,” says Andreas Bodczek, CEO at IDnow. “This is a game-changing development as the benefits of digital identity verification become available to a much wider range of services.”

What is AutoIdent Substantial?

There are typically two key methods for verifying customer identity: documentary and non-documentary methods. Both involve manually reading through different government and non-government papers and comparing what is found to the information provided by the customer. Because of the amount of human judgment and reading necessary, this process can be lengthy and biased.

IDnow’s new technology aims to fix this problem. AutoIdent Substantial is a blend of advanced AI and machine learning trained on millions of datasets. It automates the document comparison processes outlined above and has the additional step of biometric verification using facial recognition technology to further confirm that the user executing the transaction is an exact match. There are also additional optional customer verification steps that the user can opt into.

The technology claims to have identification in under a minute anywhere within 195 countries and boasts boosting fraud prevention up to 99.97%. Additionally, based on the multi-device compatibility, AutoIdent Substantial is hoping to optimize user experience.

Implications for the Future of Identity

Faster, easier and more secure—IDnow hopes that users fully understand why AutoIdent Substantial is an alternative to the current customer identification processes. However, users should examine the ramifications of this technology as well.

There are controversial elements to both AI and facial recognition technologies. Since these tools are often trained using biased data, utilizing them can have dangerous results that perpetuate inequality if used inaccurately.

However, having passed the stringent EU eIDAS regulation, it is unlikely that IDnow will have these issues. Perhaps, this process is an example for how cutting-edge AI technology should be dealt with. It is important moving forward that future AI technologies that are bound to become major parts of society are monitored closely and are required to pass through strict regulations and certifications.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Sarah Raza is a Tech Innovation Fellow with a background in computer science from Stanford. She is passionate about exploring the implications of increased usage of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Contact Sarah Raza at sarah@identityreview.com.

Do you have information to share with Identity Review? Email us at press@identityreview.com.