--- description: Soon you could buy lunch or check in for your flight with just your face, Africa is sending us its best and brightest and more. title: Soon You Can Check In For Your Flight with Just Your Face image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Five Best Ideas](/tag/five-best-ideas/) ## Five Best Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Soon You Can Check In For Your Flight with Just Your Face by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 17, 2018 5:00 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 17, 2018 5:00 PM CUT **1\.** [**Soon you could buy lunch or check in for your flight with just your face.**](http://www.slate.com/blogs/future%5Ftense/2017/12/22/facial%5Frecognition%5Fsoftware%5Fis%5Fcoming%5Fto%5Findustries%5Flike%5Ffast%5Ffood%5Fand%5Fluxury.html "undefined") By Aaron Mak in _Slate_ **2\.** [**Africa is sending us its best and brightest.**](https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-12/africa-is-sending-us-its-best-and-brightest "undefined") By Tyler Cowen in _Bloomberg View_ **3\.** [**The Pentagon has a new artificial intelligence — and it’s already hunting terrorists.**](http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2017/12/pentagons-new-artificial-intelligence-already-hunting-terrorists/144742/ "undefined") By Marcus Weisberger in _Defense One_ **4\.** [**What is transforming America’s cities? Declining violence.**](https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/01/the-great-crime-decline-and-the-comeback-of-cities/549998/ "undefined") By Richard Florida in _Citylab_ **5\.** [**This a is the golden age of free speech, but it’s poisoning democracy.**](https://www.wired.com/story/free-speech-issue-tech-turmoil-new-censorship/ "undefined") By Zeynep Tufekci in _Wired_  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5105760/soon-you-can-check-in-for-your-flight-with-just-your-face/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5105760/soon-you-can-check-in-for-your-flight-with-just-your-face/"},"headline":"Soon You Can Check In For Your Flight with Just Your Face","datePublished":"2018-01-17T17:00:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:58:12.742Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/5105760/soon-you-can-check-in-for-your-flight-with-just-your-face/","keywords":["Five Best Ideas","Africa","Innovation","violence","free speech","AI"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/five-best-ideas/","name":"Five Best Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5105760/soon-you-can-check-in-for-your-flight-with-just-your-face/","name":"Soon You Can Check In For Your Flight with Just Your Face"}}]}] ```