This algorithm can tell if you're gay

Artificial intelligence can tell if a person is gay or straight simply by "looking" at a picture of his or her face.

The software, developed at the University of Stanford near California's Silicon Valley, can tell a person's sexuality more accurately than humans, suggesting a "gaydar" app may not be far away.

The algorithm was able to tell if a man is gay or straight using one picture 81% of the time and could determine a woman's sexuality 74% of the time.

Human guesses were less accurate by comparison, at 61% for men and 54% for women.

When the computer was given five pictures of a person, it answered correctly 91% of the time for men and 83% for women.

The researchers trained the AI using pictures of 36,630 men and 38,593 women taken from online dating profiles of gay and straight people.

The algorithm was able to detect differences in facial structures that might relate to the level of hormones, such as testosterone, that foetuses are exposed to in the womb, which might determine sexuality, the developers said.

But there is fear the technology could put gay people at risk - homosexuality is illegal in many countries and hate crimes have soared in recent years.