The billion-dollar, Alibaba-backed AI company that's quietly watching everyone in China

Most Chinese consumers have likely never heard of SenseTime. But depending on where they live, it might be looking at their faces several times a day. If a person goes shopping at Suning, one of China's largest electronics retailers, it's possible that a camera in the store is tracking her behavior using SenseTime's software. Later, if she opens Rong360, a peer-to-peer lending app, she'll be asked to login using facial recognition--powered by SenseTime. She might send a video of herself to her friends on SNOW, a Snapchat-esque chat app, donning animated sunglasses built by SenseTime.