Emotion recognition is China’s new surveillance craze
November 01, 2019Emotion recognition systems have been installed in Xinjiang, a region in far western China where an estimated 1m mostly Muslim minorities are held in internment camps . . . “Using video footage, emotion recognition technology can rapidly identify criminal suspects by analysing their mental state . . . to prevent illegal acts including terrorism and smuggling,” said Li Xiaoyu, a policing expert and party cadre from the public security bureau in Altay city in Xinjiang. “We’ve already started using it.”
The technology is mostly deployed at customs, he added, and identifies signs of aggressiveness and nervousness as well as stress levels and a person’s potential to attack others. “
“We work with all kinds of companies in Xinjiang including Hikvision, Uniview, Dahua and Tiandy. Only companies that are strong in AI can really succeed in this field and of course the two biggest companies in this field are Alibaba and Tencent,” said Mr Li, adding the Xinjiang government also worked with them.