Is facial recognition the stuff of sci-fi? No it’s not in China
shanghai — From toilet-paper dispensers to fast-food restaurants, travel and crime-fighting, China is taking the lead in rolling out facialrecognition technology.
Shanghai and other Chinese cities have recently started deploying facial recognition to catch those who flout the rules of the road.
Jaywalkers at some Shanghai intersections have their images flashed up on a nearby screen for public shaming and must pay a fine of 20 yuan ($3) to have it removed. And people at the crossing hardly blinked
“I can accept it. The offenders are captured after all in public and I think it’s a way to enforce the law,” said 42-year-old hospital worker Wu, who give only her surname.
“However, I believe there are some people whose photos are displayed publicly who may express their concerns about this, saying their privacy was violated and worrying about their private information being misused.”
Police say facial recognition is making the country safer.
It has been used to snare criminals who attempt to evade justice by giving false names, and in one recent case in Qingdao, home to China’s best-known lager, 25 suspects were arrested when they turned up to a beer festival only to be identified by the technology at the entry gates.
All Chinese over 16 must hold an ID card with their picture and address, meaning authorities have a vast trove of information.
Experts say China is racing ahead of Western countries in deploying facial scanners.
Park managers at Beijing’s Temple of Heaven went so far as to install facial recognition devices at lavatories in the imperial-era landmark earlier this year to catch toilet-paper thieves.
If someone returns too soon for more toilet paper they are met with a polite rejection by a machine that recognises them and advises: “Please try again later.”
Beijing Normal University installed facial scanners to make sure only students enter dormitory buildings and “help us better monitor the students’ whereabouts”, the state Xinhua news agency quoted a university official as saying.
Banks are beginning to use facial recognition instead of cards at cash machines while the travel and leisure industry also sees opportunities — China Southern Airlines this year began doing away with boarding passes in favour of the scheme.
The operator of KFC in China has introduced a “Smile to Pay” system allowing customers at a KFC spin-off to pay via a facerecognition system linked to Alipay, the ubiquitous online-payment arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Back in Shanghai, a government initiative uses facial recognition to help identify people on the streets — primarily the elderly and mentally ill — and reunite them with loved ones.
The push is just one part of a broader high-tech strategy.
The government in July announced plans to become the world leader in artificial-intelligence by 2030 and build a domestic AI industry worth $150 billion.
Yue Lin, a law professor at Shanghai University, says the trend is being driven primarily by Chinese technology companies such as Alibaba and Baidu. —