Tribe Carnival uses AI to organise and disperse pictures of masquerades 

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago: A well-known Tribe Carnival band has collaborated with a local art and photography gallery- NativeMirror, to launch Carnival Camera, i.e. facial recognition using AI that will send photos of the masquerades directly to their social media accounts.

During Carnival, many people wish to have their photos displayed on the street, which is a big part of the mass experience. A new digital feature will be introduced to make it easier for revellers to share their photos.

The CEO of Tribe Carnival Bank stated that using facial recognition technology during the registration of masquerades sends the photos to their specific user’s account. 

Using this digital feature designed by artificial intelligence (AI), people will be able to find themselves in the costume. 

Additionally, it will save revellers time and eliminate the hassle of exchanging contact information with street photographers for their shots.

“No longer does the masquerade have to sift through thousands of photos on a website to find themselves…. The pictures find you! ‘CarnivalCamera leverages technology to eliminate the hassle of photo hunting”, added Tribe CEO. 

The founder and CEO of Native Mirror- Derek Drayton, expressed his excitement for this AI-generated technology as it is going to be designed on a large scale. 

“It’s definitely an exciting time because these systems, to the best of my knowledge, have not been used elsewhere for any other Carnival. We have been testing the system’s capabilities because, as you know, we are using facial recognition, and Carnival is a time when people wear costumes, they wear a lot of make-up, but it is working”, Drayton said. 

He further stated that the system is supported by a team of more than 40 photographers on the road for both Monday and Tuesday during the Carnival. They will capture every step of the parade routes and will allow clear and complete documentation of the entire masquerade experience. 

As concerns over data mining and user privacy remain a big concern around the world, the founder of Native Mirror added that people could have great fun because the company doesn’t sell the images or data to other agencies. 

Further, the CarnivalCamera system allows users to have full control over which of their photos are published as part of the band’s public gallery. 

Noting this, the clicked pictures will be sent to masquerades through their private gallery, while some images may be used in the website’s public gallery; however, they will be removed after some time. 

“It really puts control in the hands of the client by having them report a photo they don’t like or don’t want published immediately and having It removed in a quick time”, remarked Drayton.