Ours is a technologically advanced world. We are living in an age where rapid signs of progress in technology are taking the world by storm. One of such many new inventions is what we are going to talk about here. The artificial intelligence (AI) has been in use now in different forms and in different locations. However, scholars in China appear to have invented a new creative way of using AI.

In a previously undocumented use of facial recognition software, police in Washington state are using Amazon's'Rekognition' to track down criminals with as little as an artist's sketch. According to a report from The Washington Post, police in Washington County are able to compare pictures of suspects harvested from security cameras and eye-witness' cell phone pictures against databases containing 300,000 mugshots of known criminals. In just Washington County Police Department alone, the report states more than 1,000 facial scans were logged last year which have helped identify subjects, sometimes leading officers to home arrests. Amazon's facial recognition software is being used to process criminal sketches in an unprecedented deployment of the technology in law enforcement. While law enforcement say the software has been a critical tool in expediting investigations and tracking down otherwise elusive criminals, skeptics say the use of facial recognition opens up a proverbial Pandora's Box of mass surveillance that could lead to more false identifications.

Marriott International, the world's largest hotel chain, announced earlier this month a rollout of facial recognition software for check-ins in partnership with Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group. The new kiosks at two Marriott locations in China will be able to scan and identify guests' faces, pull up their reservations, and check them in--all without the help of humans.

Some firms in China now use artificial intelligence–powered facial recognition programs to confirm identities. BEIJING--In a gleaming high-rise here in northern Beijing's Haidian district, two hardware jocks in their 20s are testing new computer chips that might someday make smartphones, robots, and autonomous vehicles truly intelligent. The onlooker, Chen Yunji, a 34-year-old computer scientist and founding technical adviser of Cambricon Technologies here, explains that traditional processors, designed decades before the recent tsunami of artificial intelligence (AI) research, "are slow and energy inefficient" at processing the reams of data required for AI. "Even if you have a very good algorithm or application," he says, its usefulness in everyday life is limited if you can't run it on your phone, car, or appliance. "Our goal is to change all lives."

Hong Kong/Beijing: Megvii Inc., a Chinese developer of facial-recognition technology, has raised at least $100 million from investors including Foxconn Technology Group and CCB International Holdings Ltd, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The owner of Face is still in talks with other investors for more funding, the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is private. Megvii confirmed it's raising funds while declining to comment on the specific amount. It plans to work with investors to improve facial recognition technology, especially in the financial industry, smart cities and robotics, the company said in an e-mailed statement. Megvii provides face-scanning systems to Ant Financial, which operates the dominant payments service on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's online shopping platforms.

Lawrence Wintermeyer, CEO of Innovate Finance, expects to see more innovators trying to tap into the unbanked and unrepresented consumer market. He said: "The firm Pockit, for example, gives customers an account and card that they can use to manage their money and make payments. Users can deposit money into their account at thousands of locations across the UK or have their salaries or benefits paid into their account. Pockit users also get cash back deals on the high street and online." So-called "challenger banks" are popping up and Monese is the latest to make waves.