Orwell's nightmare? Facial recognition for animals promises a farmyard revolution

"We've been using it for sheep, pigs and cows," said Zhao Jinshi, who studied at Cornell University and founded Beijing Unitrace Tech, a company developing software for the agriculture industry. "For pigs, it's more difficult because pigs all look the same, but dairy cows are a bit special because they are black and white and have different shapes," Zhao said as he checked on the technology installed in a pilot project here at a farm in Hebei province, outside Beijing. China has led the world in developing facial recognition capabilities. There are almost 630 million facial recognition cameras in use in the country, for security purposes as well as for everyday conveniences like entering train stations and paying for goods in stores. But authorities also use the technology for sinister means, such as monitoring political dissidents and ethnic minorities.