- The Chinese city of Guiyang said its facial-recognition software allows police to identify and arrest suspects in as little as two minutes.
- Cameras are placed in more than 10,000 public areas and send surveillance feeds to police in real-time, identifying individuals, their family members and where they've been in the last week.
- A BBC reporter tested the system in December and was identified and captured within seven minutes.
- China has hit back at concerns over privacy, saying that there are no problems because the data is collected in "public places."
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One Chinese city is using facial-recognition that can help police detect and arrest criminals in as little as 2 minutes
The system can identify each person as well as people they meet regularly and everywhere they've been over the past week.
An expansive facial recognition network in the southwestern Chinese city of Guiyang have reportedly enabled police to detect and apprehend criminals in as little as two minutes.
The surveillance cameras are set up in more than 10,000 public places across the city, which is larger than the state of Delaware, reported the state-run newspaper Global Times this week. The cameras stream real-time footage back to a huge LED screen monitored by police.
The system, which has a 90% accuracy rate, simultaneously checks faces against a nationwide database and can almost immediately provide a person's name, age, gender, ethnicity, as well as information including family members, people they regularly meet, and places they've recently been.
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The development is part of Skynet, a nationwide monitoring programme launched in 2005 to increase the use and capabilities of surveillance cameras.
But as quick as Guiyang's police response times are, the number of cameras is lagging behind Beijing, which achieved 100% coverage of the city in 2015.
Police are also developing AI-powered systems that, aside from recognizing faces, can identify people from their repeated behaviours or even gait. Officials want to use this information to predict crime before it happens.
China has begun hitting back at human rights concerns over its expanding surveillance and facial recognition technologies.
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The Global Times reported the system in Guiyang, like those across China, "
sharing among government agencies and companies is common," the report said.
Watch the BBC test here:
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