This US Firm Wants to Help Build China's Surveillance State

In a nondescript office tower a mile from the Las Vegas Strip, two women toil in a windowless room crammed with bikinis in every size, style, and hue. Down the hall, colleagues are working to break into China's red-hot market for surveillance software powered by artificial intelligence. Bikini.com is owned by Remark Holdings, a small public company with Hollywood producer Brett Ratner on its board and financial ties to TV's Dr. Mehmet Oz. Remark's leaders are trying to transform the unprofitable, debt-loaded website operator into a provider of corporate AI technology in Asia, particularly China. Remark's business and share price are struggling, but its peculiar AI project has made some progress.