Mexico turns to AI to age thousands of missing children’s faces and help families find answers

Mexico City, October 16 — Veronica Rosas, along with thousands of other Mexican mothers, is desperately searching for her son, Diego, who vanished in 2015 after leaving home to meet friends in Ecatepec, a central town. The state prosecutor's office has not determined who kidnapped Diego, why he was taken, or whether he is still alive.

After 11 years of uncertainty, Rosas now hopes artificial intelligence (AI) could provide answers. Two AI tools are being developed to help families and investigators in their quest for missing loved ones. Regresa, created by Mexico's National Autonomous University of Mexico, utilizes anthropometry to generate updated images of missing children as they age over time.

Ana Juarez, one of the project's founders, emphasizes the use of a distinct technology to predict craniofacial changes in the children's faces, as opposed to generic facial filters. In addition, an anthropologist at the Ibero-American University is mapping missing individuals by gender, age, and circumstances of disappearance, aiming to help families focus their investigations.