A Chinese school is using AI cameras to spy on its students
Three cameras have been installed above a blackboard at Hangzhou Number 11 High School in China to identify students who aren’t focussed on their lessons.
It’s called a ‘smart classroom behaviour management system’, or ‘Smart Eye’. The cameras scan students every 30 seconds and recognise seven facial expressions: neutral, happy, sad, disappointed, angry, scared and surprised. It can also identify actions such as reading, writing or sleeping. If the system spots a student that isn’t paying attention, it sends a notification to the teacher. Right now, it’s only been installed in one classroom, but it will be deployed across the school before autumn.
Critics of the Smart Eye system have raised questions about privacy, but headmaster Ni Ziyuan claims that it’s equivalent to having a teaching assistant in the classroom and will improve the quality of teaching. He adds that the system only records the students’ movements, rather than filming them during their lessons.
This is the latest civilian surveillance programme to be rolled out in China. Facial recognition technology has already been installed at train stations and pop concerts to identify law-breakers, in university lectures to test interest levels, and at cash machines and fast-food restaurants.