Page 74 - Fortune-November 01, 2018

FOCUS

EVERY STEP YOU TAKE, Local Chinese governments

are using cameras and A.I.
made by SenseTime and
THEY’LL BE WATCHING YOU Megvii to identify citizens on
the street. Minority Report?
No—reality. By Eamon Barrett

AT A CROSSING IN SHENZHEN, a giant Where’s Waldo? vided by a local company called Intellifusion,
TECH
screen displays the faces of pedes- Monitors at the one of the smaller players in China’s advanced
trians who dared to jaywalk, unaware they Beijing offices surveillance market. At the forefront of this
of A.I.-software
were being watched. But it wasn’t police who startup Megvii booming industry are two other Chinese
caught them—it was street-side surveillance play a video startups, SenseTime and Megvii, whose A.I.-
cameras equipped with the latest in facial showing how its powered facial recognition systems are likely GILLES S A BRIE—T HE NE W YORK T IMES/REDUX
facial recognition
recognition technology. The miscreants’ mug software works. the most powerful in the world.
shots are broadcast on the screen to shame SenseTime began as a research project at the
others into compliance. Chinese University of Hong Kong. The com-
The technology behind the stunt was pro- pany was established in 2014 by professor

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