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Facial recognition

Facial recognition
Latest news, in-depth features and opinion on facial recognition technology, its development, application and concerns over its use.
Companies that use face recognition technology will find themselve under new regulations in China soon. Photo: Shutterstock
China technology

Editorial | Facial recognition in China calls for protective measures

Hong Kong needs to bear this in mind as mainland China brings in new rules to ease public concerns.

No facial recognition without consent: China lays down the law on pervasive tech

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Wearables

These AR glasses can tell you names and addresses of people you meet

Artificial intelligence

Founder of Alibaba-backed AI firm named chairman at Chinese carmaker Lifan

In July, Megvii signed a deal with Geely and a local tech hub to develop internet-connected intelligent cars and AI projects in Chongqing.

Megvii, founded in 2011, was one of China’s first major companies to develop facial recognition systems. Photo: Handout
Cybersecurity

China’s leading apps, including WeChat and Taobao, test proposed cyber ID system

More than 50 apps recently started accepting virtual IDs created under this proposed authentication system for user account registration and login.

Artificial intelligence

Ex-IBM scientist helms Shanghai AI Lab after death of SenseTime’s Tang

Zhou Bowen, former chief scientist of IBM’s Watson Group, has been appointed director at one of China’s top AI research institutions.

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China society

Opinion | How China can face up to accusations of mass surveillance

The rollback of face scanning in hotels across the country is a good start. Citizens’ concerns about privacy in sectors including finance and transport must also be addressed.

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International tourists go through passenger clearance at Tianjin International Cruise Home Port on April 13. Hotels across China have stopped requiring guests to have their faces scanned, amid industry concern about tourism numbers. Photo: Xinhua
SenseTime

Chinese AI giant SenseTime suspends trading as shares surge more than 30%

SenseTime’s shares gained as much as 36 per cent after the company launched the latest iteration of its SenseNova large language model.

China’s Communist Party

China’s premier, top officials pay tribute to late AI visionary Tang Xiao’ou

Li Qiang, Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang among Chinese leaders paying respects to the leading facial recognition expert and SenseTime co-founder, who died Friday.

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Artificial intelligence

AI advances boost online disinformation, censorship and surveillance: report

Generative AI-based tools were used in at least 16 countries to distort information on political or social issues over the period June 2022 to May 2023, according to the annual Freedom on Net report.

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Few countries have passed legislation for the ethical use of artificial intelligence, while also justifying the use of AI-based surveillance technologies such as facial recognition on the grounds of security. Photo: Shutterstock
Hong Kong economy

UAE economy minister to hold talks with Hong Kong hi-tech AI company SenseTime

Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri says one reason for trip to Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong is to meet city tech firms that can broaden UAE’s oil-based economy.

Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, the UAE’s economy minister, talks about his hopes from trade links between the Gulf state and Hong Kong at the Belt and Road Summit in the city. Photo: Sam Tsang
X (formerly Twitter)

Elon Musk says X, formerly Twitter, will add voice and video calls

Musk says the app’s voice and video calls will work on Apple and Android devices, as well as on computers.

China technology

China to tighten the rules on use of facial recognition technology

Tech can only be used to process biometric data in ‘certain conditions’ and when there is ‘sufficient’ need, according to draft rules.

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US-China relations

North Koreans who fled to China may be sent back to harsh fate, US panel hears

Up to 2,000 North Koreans were arrested after escaping to China during the coronavirus pandemic, and many are now languishing in camps near the Chinese border.

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Giant portraits of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are seen from the Chinese border city of Dandong, Liaoning province. Photo: Reuters
Science

Opinion | In technological race for convenience, we must not leave privacy in the dust

China and other countries are quickly adopting biometric payment methods, digital currency and IoT tech for everyday needs, but many worry progress comes at a cost.

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Passengers who register their palm prints can pay for rides on Beijing’s Daxing Airport Express line using only their hands at designated turnstiles. Photo: Handout
Singapore

‘Like being in a fishbowl’: spotlight on prisoners’ privacy in Singapore

Constant surveillance with cameras using facial recognition technology violates prisoners’ privacy and increases risk of bias against minority communities, advocates say. And it’s not just Singapore.

Science

How Chinese students made an ‘invisibility cloak’ that evades security cameras

The InvisDefense coat allows the wearer to be seen but not detected as human, with implications for anti-drone tech and the battlefield.

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Australia

Australia bets on facial recognition to deter problem gamblers

Despite concerns about privacy and surveillance, the tech – which uses AI to identify addicts who have asked to be barred from betting sites – will target problem gambling in a country where the addiction affects some 1 per cent of the population.

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Digital rights campaigners want Australia’s 1988 Privacy Act to be reformed to better address the use of facial recognition technology, and clarify when and how it can be used. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

Chinese AI giant Megvii said to implement fresh round of lay-offs

Speculation about retrenchment of workers in China’s AI industry reflects the uncertainties brought by US trade sanctions and further restrictions imposed by Washington.

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Artificial intelligence

US unveils artificial intelligence ‘Bill of Rights’ to safeguard civil rights

The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights does not set out specific enforcement actions, instead serving as guidance for the federal government.

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Video gaming

Young video gamers deterred by China’s harsh rules, but loopholes remain

Gamers aged between six and 17 totalled 83 million in China this year, down from 122 million two years ago, according to Niko Partners.

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Two children play video games on a tablet at an airport in Xian, China. Photo: Shutterstock
Surveillance

‘Orwellian’ facial recognition cameras in UK stores challenged by rights group

Big Brother Watch urged Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office to investigate whether Southern Co-operative’s use of biometric scans, which monitors for blacklisted customers, violates data laws.

A surveillance camera is seen in the Kings Cross area in London on August 14, 2019. Photo: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

Meet the 75-year-old propelling China’s AI ambitions forward

Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, one of AI’s most influential figures, has exerted a profound impact on the country’s technology pioneers, who have gone on to start multibillion-dollar start-ups.

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SenseTime

Exclusive | Where does SenseTime go after its US sanction-delayed stock sale?

What happened with SenseTime reflects how growing animosity between the US and China is catching Hong Kong in the crossfire between the world’s two largest economies.

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Surveillance

US ‘smart city’ tech highlights contrasts with China over privacy, control

American communities try to balance the benefits of new technology with the threats of a surveillance state.

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Illustration: Henry Wong
Ant Group

Ant Group-backed smart vending machine start-up seeks Hong Kong IPO

Beijing Ubox Online Technology Corp, which posted over US$204 million in losses over the past two years, had been working for more than four years to list on the A-shares market, but withdrew its IPO application in 2021.

Beijing Ubox Online Technology Corp, a smart vending machine operator backed by Ant Group, filed a draft prospectus for an initial public offering in Hong Kong. Photo: Handout
Crime

US cities walk back facial recognition bans in face of surging crime

Virginia will end a prohibition on the use of the technology by local police in July and California and the city of New Orleans could be next.

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Artificial intelligence

Chinese facial recognition firm DeepGlint in muted trading debut in Shanghai

DeepGlint, which was added to the US government’s trade blacklist in July last year, once targeted a US$300 billion valuation.

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