Syntonym’s lossless anonymization tech ensures privacy and data utility

In today's technology-driven landscape, cameras have become ubiquitous sensors, present in almost every device - from autonomous vehicles to smart glasses and smart home gadgets. The proliferation of cameras spotlights a critical concern: protecting personal privacy while enabling advanced functionality.

Addressing this challenge head-on is Syntonym, a ground-breaking startup offering a patent-pending lossless anonymization technology, ensuring privacy without compromising data utility.

The core innovation: synthetic anonymization

Syntonym has developed a revolutionary technology that irreversibly removes biometric data from faces by replacing it with synthetically generated ones. This ensures that while personal identifiers are eliminated, the utility of the data remains intact.

Unlike traditional methods such as blurring, which mask personal identifiers but compromise key information, Syntonym's lossless anonymization technology preserves critical visual signals needed for AI-driven insights.

Syntonym's approach, termed "synthetic anonymization", preserves essential facial signals—like eyelid movements, gaze direction, and head position—by substituting real faces with synthetic counterparts.

“What Syntonym essentially does is help technologies that rely on camera data or camera sensors see what’s happening around them, without actually using or exposing any personal information,” the team explains.

This approach ensures that privacy and innovation can go hand in hand, addressing both regulatory requirements and ethical concerns around data privacy.

Solving real-world problems in automotive

The automotive sector, with its stringent data privacy and security regulations, stands to benefit significantly from Syntonym's technology. A practical example from the industry shows how.

Many modern vehicles are equipped with in-cabin cameras designed to monitor driver behavior for safety purposes. Detecting whether a driver is distracted or fatigued requires analyzing subtle signals such as eyelid movements, gaze direction, and head position. Traditional anonymization methods like blurring would render such data unusable.

However, with Syntonym’s technology, all these crucial signals are preserved. This ensures no structural loss for AI training and no functionality loss for AI analytics.

Syntonym has strategically targeted the automotive sector, where the stakes for privacy compliance are incredibly high. Automakers face hefty fines for non-compliance—for instance, a single test vehicle equipped with cameras cost VW 1.1 million euros in fines in Germany.

The technology has been optimized for both in-cabin and external vehicle cameras, supporting both RGB and near-infrared inputs to ensure effective anonymization in various conditions. For external cameras, Syntonym not only anonymizes faces but also license plates, applying synthetic overlays that retain the original regional characteristics.

Edge processing capabilities

One of the standout features of Syntonym’s solution is its edge processing capability. The technology can be deployed directly onboard vehicles, anonymizing data at the point of collection. This unlocks immense potential for automakers and their suppliers:

• Transforming real-world data into valuable training datasets
• Using live data for continuous product improvement
• Facilitating cross-border data sharing without privacy risks

For customers who have already collected large datasets, Syntonym also offers on-premise and cloud-based solutions tailored to various business domains.

Expanding beyond automotive

While the automotive sector remains Syntonym’s primary focus, the potential applications of its technology extend far beyond. The startup has already partnered with a major bank to anonymize employees’ visual profiles during video calls. By introducing Syntonym faces with responsible labeling, they ensure that it’s instantly recognizable when a synthetic face is being used for privacy purposes.

The versatility of Syntonym’s technology—capable of running on both mobile and desktop devices—paves the way for a wide range of future applications. From smart home devices like doorbells and security cameras to next-generation wearables and AR glasses, any camera-equipped device can benefit from lossless anonymization.

The road ahead

Syntonym is poised to revolutionize the way visual data is handled across industries, ensuring that innovation and privacy progress together, without compromising one for the other.

The company’s mission is clear: to enable privacy-preserving innovation in a world where cameras are everywhere. By providing a solution that balances data utility and privacy, Syntonym is not only addressing a pressing technological challenge but also shaping the future of responsible AI-driven technologies.