Surveillance cameras have become an accepted part of modern life. At the recent Qatar World Cup over 15,000 surveillance cameras were installed to track, monitor and protect match attendees. Virtue, the creative agency powered by VICE, took the opportunity of the Qatar World Cup to spark conversation around surveillance cameras and use creativity to see if facial tracking recognition can be tricked.

The project, Camoflags, saw the team use Ai to create face patterns fusing Juggalo face paint with various flags, essentially using Ai to fool the Ai face recognition cameras. The backdrop of a World Cup, an event where patriotic face paint is commonplace, enabled the agency to find creative ways to avoid detection and open up discussion around the wider issue of facal recognition tracking. The project is explained in a video on the VICE TikTok channel.

The team which was made up of creatives that also worked on Virtue’s Back Up Ukraine project had been looking into the issue of surveillance cameras prior to the World Cup. “Every worry or every conversation happening about deep fakes was a politically based thing but in reality, 96% of every deepfake ever uploaded is a female inserted into a pornographic situation without her knowledge or consent,” explained Tao Legene Thomsen, Creative Director, Innovation at Virtue.

“It’s a whole conversation around privacy and data and how much you’re giving away of yourself. How much of that data is being captured and used for other things, such as the likes of deep fake porn?” added Morten Grubak, Global Executive Creative Director of Innovation at Virtue.

The World Cup offered the team an opportunity to dive deeper into the conversation and position the debate into culture. While it may not be practical to wear face paint every day to avoid detection, the team were curious as to what it would take to fool the cameras. “Why try to feel invisible at a football match? It's not about feeling invisible at a football match, it's basically because today we don’t know where that data ends up,” explained Grubak.

Ai versus Ai

The team at Virtue worked alongside Brandhouse/Subzero on the project where by working together they were able to harness Virtue’s existing research in combination with Brandhouse/Subzero’s motivations to create a project around the World Cup. From extensive research on the topic prior, the team at Virtue was already aware that Juggalo style make-up could be used to confuse facial recognition technology as it distorts some of the key points of the face and sees different features pull the focus.

To create the face paint looks used in the Camoflags campaign that could fool an Ai camera, the team used the insight around Juggalo face paint and combined it with different nations’ flags. To create the looks the team used an Ai programme, midjourney and asked it to imagine such looks; essentially pitting one Ai against another.

“To come up with hundreds of creative expressions, we asked the Ai to imagine this face but it's a football flag, geometric, swirly shapes, tone gradients, reverse to natural lighting and then feed the images in over again.” explained Thomsen. “We then ran them through photoshop and through a quick facial recognition programme online to see what worked then added a human element. By utilising Ai we could do a hundred iterations in a matter of hours to pick the ones that worked aesthetically and fooled the tech”

The result was a series of striking looks fans could wear to support their team whilst also moving around the stadiums freely avoiding detection from cameras.

Tech as a tool

By using technology in combination with creativity, the team were able to harness the power of Ai to use it as a tool. “These days it’s not just about reach or getting someone to sign a petition or maybe donate. Now we can make tools that allow people to take action. Putting the action back into digital activism” says Thomsen.

“We wanted to highlight how many digital tools are available to everyone that can be used as tools, we are trying to change perception. For example, Instagram is not just a channel it can be a tool as well, as a face filter, as well as an expression” added Grubak

He continues: “What we want more than anything is to raise awareness, it happens at the world cup, it probably happens at home. We hope the flags, the paint, the story, kick starts the conversation and give the topic a new face.”

The campaign aims to highlight the power of technology and encourage people to question their surroundings. While it might not be practical for women to wear face paint every single day to protect their data, the project shows that there are creative ways to expand the conversation.

“Don’t be afraid of the robots, use them as a tool and don’t be afraid of your competitors. We let some people we didn't know were friends in and what came out of it was beautiful, something that wouldn't have been able to happen unless we all worked together.” added Thomsen.