Also, this doesn't seem to be an apt analogy; I'm no expert on machine learning (certainly) but it seems to me that "face detector" is simply a catchy abstracti

Also, this doesn't seem to be an apt analogy; I'm no expert on machine learning (certainly) but it seems to me that "face detector" is simply a catchy abstraction that does not necessarily contradict the underlying technicalities of your production. My issue with your titling "Genetic Algorithms" is that it is not simply a more convenient, abstract way of expressing what you did: it is in fact a contradiction of terms with the underlying technical details of what you did.