Azure Face API

Important

Face service access is limited based on eligibility and usage criteria in order to support our Responsible AI principles. Face service is only available to Microsoft managed customers and partners. Use the Face Recognition intake form to apply for access. For more information, see the Face limited access page.

Important

Microsoft will be retiring facial recognition capabilities that can be used to try to infer emotional states and identity attributes which, if misused, can subject people to stereotyping, discrimination or unfair denial of services. These include capabilities that predict emotion, gender, age, smile, facial hair, hair and makeup. Existing customers have until June 30, 2023 to discontinue use of these capabilities before they are retired. Read more about this decision here.

The Azure Face service provides AI algorithms that detect, recognize, and analyze human faces in images.

Setting up

Create a new Node.js application

In a console window (such as cmd, PowerShell, or Bash), create a new directory for your app, and navigate to it.

mkdir myapp && cd myapp

Run the npm init command to create a node application with a package.json file.

npm init

Install the client library

Navigate to your project directory and run the following command to install the ms-rest-azure and azure-cognitiveservices-face NPM packages:

npm install @azure/cognitiveservices-face @azure/ms-rest-js

Your app's package.json file will be updated with the dependencies.

Next Steps

Go to the Face service Overview or follow a quickstart to get started.