Professor Hassan Ugail produced an e-fit of what Madeleine McCann may look like now / Photo / Professor Hassan Ugail
Finding Maddie: McCann e-fit shows what kidnapped girl could look like on 18th birthday14 May, 2021
Facial recognition technology experts have been able to produce an image of what missing girl Madeleine McCann could look like as her family marks her 18th birthday.
Days before her 4th birthday, Maddie went missing from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal while her parents were dining in a restaurant nearby.
More than 14 years on, Kate and Gerry McCann still hold out hope of finding out what happened to her, dreaming of finding her alive.
Now, thanks to technological advances, Bradford University professor Hassan Ugail produced an image that gives an insight to what Maddie could look like now.
Using AI technology, his approach maps out key features such as the shape of the cheeks, mouth and forehead.
The system uses machine learning to teach the computer how different people age, while also taking in the resemblance of family members to produce a photo-quality image.
The information was then fed into a computer algorithm that synthesises new features for the face to produce photo-quality images.
It is considered the most up-to-date image of Maddie anyone has ever seen.
Ugail told the Daily Star: "We take a photo, it doesn't matter what age the person is really, any age. So in the case of Madeleine, it's when she was 3," he said.
"Then, first of all, we get a picture of mum and dad and put it into the system and that provides our template and we put the age in as 17.
"When we say 17, we can't guarantee that but it will be something like 15 to 17 in a two- to three-year range.
"That's one reason we wanted to do this, to see if there's any hope ... anybody who looks at this picture and will think 'I know someone who looks like this'.
"Or even better, if the police can run it through large databases and then identify potential-looking people and then it can help with their investigation."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/finding-maddie-mccann-e-fit-shows-what-kidnapped-girl-could-look-like-on-18th-birthday/HJP23WSSDUY2JVEGCP5Y227SIQ/