China has stepped up surveillance known as “emotion recognition technology” to monitor human feelings – and assist them in law enforcement, according to reports.
Emotion recognition technology tracks traits such as facial muscle movements, tone of voice and body movements to infer a person’s feelings, the Global Times reported.
“The recognition of emotion is definitely the direction of humanity’s future technological development,” said Ma Qingguo, head of the Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement at Ningbo University.
Some Chinese experts boast that the new technology is up to 95% accurate in detecting people’s emotions.
The cutting-edge tool is increasingly being used in a number of fields, including health, anti-terrorism and urban security, sources said.
For example, the artificial intelligence system can monitor occupants of cars passing through a busy intersection, state media reported.
Security officials can then stop a vehicle in which passengers seem nervous to search the vehicle for drugs, the report said.
Chen Wei – who is general manager of Taigusys, a company specializing in technology – said the tool also has the ability to predict dangerous behavior by prisoners, problematic students in schools and elderly people with dementia in nursing homes, the Guardian reported.
“Ordinary people here in China are not happy with this technology, but they have no choice,” Chen told the channel.
“If the police say there must be cameras in a community, people will have to live with that. There is always this demand and we are here to meet it. “
Chen said Taigusys systems have already been installed in about 300 prisons, detention centers and prisons across the country, connecting 60,000 cameras.
He said that only the existence of systems has an impact on prisoners’ behavior.
“As they know what the system does, they do not consciously try to violate certain rules,” he said.