Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, plans to allow customers to apply for credit cards through the ATMs-without ever even speaking to a bank employee.
The process would work like this:
The machine would scan your passport, fingerprints and face for facial recognition. Customers would then be asked questions like “Are you employed” and “At this moment, do you have any other outstanding loans?”
A voice analysis system developed by the Speech Technology, whose clients include the Federal Security Service (the descendant of the KGB), can assess whether the person is truthfully answering the questions. Company officials said the system, which is programmed to detect whether the person is nervous or under stress, was designed with help from examining law enforcement recording databases of people found to be lying during police interviews.
“We are not violating a client’s privacy,” Orlovsky told the New York Times. “We are not climbing into the client’s brain. We aren’t invading their personal lives. We are just trying to find out if they are telling the truth. I don’t see any reason to be alarmed.”
