Chinese facial recognition firm developing AI to predict crimes

Chinese companies are developing new facial recognition systems that can help law enforcement identify criminals and even potentially predict crimes before they occur, according to a report by Shanghaiist. Equipped with China's photo ID database and the extensive footage taken from public surveillance cameras, the country's facial recognition technologies are able to analyze billions of faces and objects to identify people. China's massive population and lenient privacy laws have made enormous amounts of data available to companies at a low cost to further develop facial recognition software. Wang Shengjin, a professor at Tsinghua University's Department of Electronic Engineering said that while China's primary competitors are other Western tech companies,"[they] are far ahead when it comes to deploying [facial recognition tech] commercially." Due to the fact that Beijing is willing to pay just about anything to ensure national security, quite a few companies are finding the growing industry increasingly profitable.