The modernized surveillance system will give the Chinese authorities more automated capabilities to track citizens and analyze their behavior, as well as predict potential unrest in real time, reports the Financial Times. According to the daily's analysis, the Chinese are implementing new AI-based surveillance systems throughout the country. These actions represent China's biggest step in years towards modernizing the surveillance apparatus built a decade ago.
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China is modernizing its surveillance system
China's surveillance apparatus is used by authorities to monitor society, including: reducing street crime. The current capabilities of this system are becoming less and less sufficient due to, among others: aging hardware and limited AI features.
— China's old surveillance system is reactive. It is not good at predicting and understanding the intentions of people who are not under direct supervision, says Minxin Pei, an expert on the Chinese management and monitoring system from Claremont McKenna College in California, in an interview with “FT”.
Beijing is therefore investing in new generations of cameras and AI-based software that can interpret images, recognize behavioral patterns and search for recordings based on written commands. This significantly reduces the need for officers to carry out “manual” analysis, notes “FT”.
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Over the last two years, Chinese companies, including Huawei and Hikvision have launched products equipped with systems that can predict and send alerts on various risky behaviors, such as dangerous driving, crowd gatherings or behaviors leading to suicide.
One of the reasons for modernization is the increase in acts of violence in recent years. Pei said the incidents revealed “the limitations of China's current surveillance apparatus.” According to experts, these disturbing events are related to the mental health crisis, made worse by, among others, due to restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Human rights organizations have warned that advances in generative AI and computer vision give Chinese authorities unprecedented opportunities to monitor public behavior on a large scale.
— The philosophy of China's surveillance system is becoming more and more comprehensive, admitted Maya Wang, an analyst at the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch, in an interview with the British daily.
