The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is using in-house artificial intelligence (AI) technology to improve the “robustness” of fingerprint authentication, according to a press release issued on Monday. The UIDAI said this effort was being undertaken to reduce “spoofing attempts,” where duplicates of a fingerprint were being used to carry out Aadhaar transactions improperly.
“The artificial intelligence and machine learning-based security mechanism developed in-house is now using a combination of both finger minutia[e] and finger image to check the liveness of the finger print captured,” the release said. “This is making Aadhaar authentication transactions even more robust and secure.” This will especially benefit sectors such as banking and telecom, the UIDAI said.
Migrated to new system
It is unclear when the new system will be rolled out widely; the government said several agencies authorised to carry out Aadhaar transactions had already migrated to the new system “after months of discussion and hand-holding by the UIDAI of its partners and user agencies”. The UIDAI and its regional offices are reaching out to those who haven’t migrated, the release said.
Most Aadhaar transactions are carried out with fingerprint authentication, such as in ration shops selling subsidised commodities. The UIDAI said that as of December 2022, the number of cumulative Aadhaar transactions had crossed 88.29 billion, with an average of 70 million transactions happening daily. If this rate holds, Aadhaar transactions may hit the 100 billion mark in mid-June.
