Chances are, you're already familiar with facial recognition software, even if you've never spent time in an artificial intelligence lab. The algorithm that Facebook uses for tagging photos, for example, is a version of facial recognition software that can identify faces with a 97.25 percent accuracy.

The problem with most of today's facial recognition software, however, is that it's computationally very intensive and difficult to use for more than just matching simple photos. If you could speed up the process of recognizing faces, add the ability to track facial features and make it so easy to use that it could be used as a smartphone app by anyone – then it might open up a number of important new opportunities.