A breakthough year of biometrics might mean paying with your face soon

In just the last 20 years, technology has raced beyond what we though even capable back in the mid-2000s. We have iPhones that open with our face, we have self-driving cars, and on top of that, artificial intelligence continues advancing dangerously fast. While some of this has been a negative for our society, something positive might be coming from it.

Facial recognition software has been tested at various places, including airports and sports stadiums. The technology is there, but it is still in its infancy, at least as far as the public knows. But a breakthrough year in biometrics last year, according got experts, might open the possibility of paying for things with your face, or even eyeball.

Tech entrepreneur Peter Shankman says the foundations are already in place.

"You are unlocking iPhones with your face...airlines do this as well...it exists. There is a global facial recognition data base...there is already biometric recognition of your face," he says. "This is just combining the two."

Juniper Research forecasts around $3 trillion in mobile biometric payments by the year 2025, which is just around the corner. That seems awfully soon, but again, the technology is already in place.

But it may take a while before it goes more mainstream.

"I could see it being in place in the next three to five years...it will come down to when the usefulness is more than the non-usefulness...we adapted to paying with our phones, as that became easier," he says. "If it becomes more useful than not useful, we will adopt it as a society. Just what we do."

Testing will likely begin all over the place, from your high-end supermarkets, to fast food chains in small towns. It will have to be rolled out slowly to gain public trust, but in the long term, it really could make life that much easier. You eye and face are also unique to you, like a fingerprint, so it makes things more secure to an extent as well.

There will surely though be the usual outcries that it is an invasion of privacy. But again, you open your phone with your face, and you are already in a database. So, really, the deed is already done, and has been for some time.

"Privacy died 50 years ago...when you are walking down the street in any major city...you are filmed on average six times every block...between security cameras, red lights...you do not realize how often you are on camera," he says. "Your privacy has been invaded on a regular basis already."

Of course, the older population is likely to be the biggest factor in the equation, as they will be less likely to adapt to the idea.

However, Shankman says if we can adapt to this, it could be a very positive thing in our lives.