Google will now let you sign in to your account using a selfie video

Google is adding a selfie video option as a new way for users to log in to their company accounts Announce On Thursday, it joined a growing wave of technology companies betting that biometrics, not password, is the future of online identity verification. The tech giant says Personal Videos gives users more options to log in if they’re blocked or don’t have access to their usual phone or computer.

Users set up a selfie video by looking into their device’s camera and completing certain directed head movements — such as turning right or left or nodding — to capture multiple angles of their face. If the user has trouble logging in later, they can take another selfie video to get back into their account, and Google will then compare the new video to the one used in setup to make sure it’s the right person.

The biggest challenge Google is trying to solve is proving that there’s a real human, not a robot or doctored video, on the other side of the camera. “When you use a selfie to log in, we use multiple layers of security to help prevent impersonation attempts like fake photos and videos (i.e. deepfakes),” Google wrote in a blog post. “For example, we match your video to your saved profile picture and ask you to perform simple gestures to prove it’s a live video. We also use our standard security practices to detect and help prevent suspicious login attempts.”

But this is not just about individual accounts. As AI-generated video becomes more compelling, “liveness” checks are becoming a basic requirement for any business that handles logins, payments, or sensitive data.

Although the new option could help protect accounts from fraud and help users recover locked accounts, it also raises concerns about user privacy and biometric data collection, which regulators in the region are increasingly scrutinizing as more companies build products around facial and voice data.

Google says personal videos are stored securely using encryption and remain protected even when not in use, and users can choose to delete videos from their Google account at any time.