Are 625 Pixels Enough To Identify Sex?

mikejuk writes "A Spanish research team have patented a video camera and algorithm that can tell the difference between males and females based on just a 25x25 pixel image. This means that there is enough information in such low resolution images to do the job! They also demonstrate that an old AI method, linear discriminant analysis, is as good and sometimes better than more trendy methods such as Support Vector Machines..."

Can it really?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://totallylookslike.icanhascheezburger.com/2010/02/04/justin-bieber-totally-looks-like-ellen-page/ [icanhascheezburger.com]

Re:Statistical anomalies

[Elledan]

And how about intersexual people who are physically neither gender? I had a friend before who was IS and it just was really hard to tell from the looks what gender one should assume. Mentally she identified as female, but that can't obviously be told from a picture.

It really differs among IS people. I am a hermaphrodite yet there is no way to tell this while I'm still wearing clothes. Everyone identifies me as being a regular female, even at the swimming pool. There are heaps of 'regular' women who would get IDed by this system as being men, making it inaccurate for regular men and women, and a huge mess for IS people. As for TS people, most MtF TSs I have seen would be identified as being male, and most FtM TSs as being female. As said, unless you are going to modify the skeletal structure of the face etc. taking hormones doesn't magically transform you into the other gender/sex.