Facial recognition technology reunites lost man with his family!

The facial recognition technology is widely used in China for the purpose of law enforcement.-

• The hospital officials were unable to identify the man or trace his family.

A 31-year-old mentally ill man in China was able to reunite with his brother with the help of a facial recognition surveillance network. The man, who had gone missing for over a year, was found wandering in a confused state at Chongqing railway station by authorities and since then he had been staying in a hospital.The hospital officials were unable to identify the man or trace his family and contacted a facial recognition firm for assistance. The man's photo was linked to public records by the tech firm and it was discovered that the man lived in Liangshan Yi in Sichuan located several hundred miles away from where he had been found. The man, whose identity has not been revealed, was later reunited with his brother, according to South China Morning Post reports quoted in the Independent.

The facial recognition technology is widely used in China for the purpose of law enforcement. Currently, one such application of software is being explored before putting it to use to nab and fine jaywalkers who will be captured on surveillance cameras or smart glasses and then be identified by Artificial Intelligence-powered facial recognition technology, post which a notification and fine would then be sent to the violator via text message.

Recently, police were able to identify and nab a fugitive from a crowd of around 50,000 people at a pop concert in Nanchang in Jiangxi province through facial recognition technology. "[The fugitive] was suspected to be involved in an economic crime and was listed on a national online system," a police officer was quoted by local media as saying. "He was very shocked and had a blank face when we caught him."

However, the use of facial recognition technology in China has sparked a debate about privacy and the chief of technology firm Baidu came under fire for comments he made about the use of personal data. "We're very aware of the privacy issue, including data protection. I think that the Chinese people are more open, or not so sensitive, about the privacy issue," Baidu founder Robin Li said last month.

However, social media users in China criticised Li's comments calling them 'shameless', 'cheeky' and 'despicable'.