Regardless of whether you approve or disapprove, we have allready seen that the USA Government can, and does, use IT to invade the privacy of individuals, both foreign and domestic, without any process of law. "Secret" science is unhealthy, society needs to know whether something can be done (without necessarily knowing how it is done), in order for healthy debate to occure as to whether it should be done. The power of the weak, poor, marginalised and unrepresented is in numbers. Democracy can only flourish when disscussion is uncensored.

Ignoring the dubious/moral use of such as technique, humans have always been able to get at least a hint of someone's sexuality, even the name 'gaydar' has been coined for it.
The ability to be able to identify a member of your own group (whatever that is) is probably an important advantage, so can understand why it can be picked up by AI techniques.

H-boy is correct. In spite of the risk of being branded as homophobes, Kosinski et al feel that an unbiased and scientific objective is the priority here. Technology can and does easily get ahead of us, sometimes to our detriment. Anyone who wants to live under the scrutiny of machines is probably mad or misinformed. If anything, this demonstrates how "mad" this so-called security establishment of the West can be. Conversely, this cultivation of hyper sexuality of everything is not desirable to other cultures. We should not be dictating to them what is moral and what is not, especially as we are not models of morality and virtue ourselves. The West can evolve as it has, but to think that that it can go around and impose its standards on other cultures that are far older is questionable. We celebrate diversity and tolerance and we don't.

Interesting conundrum. If an AI can be programmed to correctly identify sexual orientation then it will be built. If a society is open and accepting about a persons sexuality then there really is no danger in the AI. However, that society is only one which would respect people enough to ban the software.
If the assumption that sexual orientation has an identifiable medical cause is much more problematic that an AI that can identify sexuality. If there is a medical cause then that discredits the idea a person can choose to be gay. But also it would just be a matter of time before some medical treatment is available to allow parents to choose their child's orientation.
Quite the conundrum.

I don't know why this is so surprising. I remember reading about a study where people we asked to guess the orientation of someone from a photo and they also had an equally high correct rate. The question of should this technology be used is naive. Should a dozen governments have satellites in orbit with cameras so powerful they can read the licence plate number of a car? Should the NSA have the equipment to monitor every form of electronic activity that occurs on the planet? That is what happens with technology, it is used. This will also be used. What is important to a free society is controlling its use so it does not deprive us of our human and civil rights. Getting those controls in place is much harder than inventing the tech.

Whilst I agree with the comments about government probably just using this type of technology without our consent I also think that maybe it could be helpful. Many people who are against homosexuals will generally say it is a choice that has been made. Wouldn't this type of technology prove that homosexuality isn't a choice? As a gay male I can't possibly be making changes to my face as I "chose"to be gay.
The down side is that no matter how much education is out there about a subject, there will always be people who don't believe the proof and of course this technology could be used to, as the story states, round up gay people to beat and kill them.

This is similar to detecting a grow op in a house merely by looking at it with an infrared camera and seeing a heat signature indicative of indoor hydroponics. Or of detecting marijuana crops by flying over remote land and looking for telltale colors and patterns. Or of buying a parabolic microphone and listening in to 'private' conversations. Or someone has a tattoo of something on their arm that you inadvertently read. Or a woman wears a low-cut top that you're not allowed to look at. There are countless ways of breaching someone's privacy by passively observing them. Google Earth drove past and photographed you or your license plate by accident and broadcast it on the internet. Etc!

Is the tech the problem or how we treat gay people? I've had a chin implant and rhinoplasty, how does it see me, I wonder?

It has been over a hundred years that lie detectors have been hawked and used and yet they are scarcely more reliable than chance.This is bs.not science.