Electronic surveillance

Facial Recognition In China Is Big Business As Local Governments Boost Surveillance

Dozens of cameras meet visitors to the Beijing headquarters of SenseTime, China's largest artificial intelligence company. One of them determines whether the door will open for you; another tracks your movements.

The one that marketing assistant Katherine Xue is gazing into, in the company's showroom, broadcasts an image of my face with white lines emanating from my eyes, nose and corners of my mouth. It estimates I am a 37-year-old male (I'm 44) with an attractiveness score of 98.

"Is that a high or low score?" I ask Xue, whose digitized face shows that she is a 23-year-old female with an attractiveness score of 99.

"That's a very high score!" she exclaims.

Later Xue whispers to me that everyone receives high scores. This is one of SenseTime's many products, a marketing application that flatters you so that you'll buy merchandise selected for you based on data gleaned from your face. (The machine determines that a cheap brand of Chinese grain alcohol is something I'd likely buy).