New Russian ATMs Can Spot Liars

System will eliminate need to interact with a person to get a credit card
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 9, 2011 10:21 AM CDT
New Russian ATMs Can Spot Liars
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev looks at Sberbank card terminal in Moscow, in rhis February 28, 2011 file photo.   (Getty Images)

Russia’s state-owned Sberbank is about to roll out ATMs with such ridiculously strong security features that customers will be able to get a new credit card without actually speaking to a human. The machines will have the ability to read fingerprints, scan passports, and take 3D images of a person’s face, the New York Times reports. They’ll also have voice-recognition technology designed to detect lies, so they’ll know if customers are telling the truth when the machine asks questions like, “Are you employed?”

The voice-analysis system was created by a company that also works for the Federal Security Service—the successor of the KGB. Programmers used interrogation recordings of people found to be lying from Russian law enforcement to help design the system, which searches voices for signs of nervousness or stress. The machine may sound awfully invasive to Americans, but Sberbank doesn’t think customers will mind. “We are just trying to find out if they are telling the truth,” says one executive. “I don’t see any reason to be alarmed.” (More Russia stories.)

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