Peace sign selfies may be revealing more than just a casual pose. Experts say AI-enhanced images can, in some cases, help reconstruct fingerprint data from photos.

As someone who used to live in Taiwan, I noticed a strong tendency for the citizens to use peace signs when taking selfies. However, I never actually considered that my security could be at risk, as I often replicated the gesture to try to culturally assimilate.

And recently, Chinese financial expert Li Chang demonstrated on reality TV that a high-resolution camera can capture and extract fingerprints, especially within 1.5 meters.

On the show, Chang showed that even when the fingerprints seem blurry to the naked eye, AI software can be used to sharpen the image in order to obtain the data.

But how likely is this to actually happen? “I do think it’s technically possible to reconstruct fingerprints from photos now, but it’s honestly a pretty targeted threat,” said Lewis Berry, a principal security architect and Microsoft MVP at Inforcer.

The issue has been discussed for over a decade, as in 2014, biometrics researcher Jan Krisller demonstrated how easy it was for him to access the fingerprints of then German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen while she was speaking live at an event.