Facial recognition technology finds missing men

A mentally ill man in China who has been missing for over a year can finally reunite with his family after being identified by a facial surveillance network or Facial Recognition. The 31-year-old man has been in the hospital since January 2017 after authorities found him confused in a state in Chongqing railway station.

The hospital clerk could not identify the man. However, after they contacted the facial recognition company, they finally found out who the man was.

By hooking his face photo with public records, the technology company discovered the man was from Liangshan Yi prefecture in Sichuan, a few hundred miles away from where he was found. The man, who has not been named, then reunited with his brother.

The use of face recognition technology in China has spread rapidly in recent years, especially for law enforcement purposes. One application for such software that is currently being explored is to capture and jaywalker, in both large and small cities. As part of the scheme, surveillance cameras or smart eyewear will catch ongoing people, once AI's powerful face recognition technology identifies them.

Notices and fines will be sent to violators via text message. The effectiveness of facial recognition for police was proven last week after a fugitive was identified from a crowd of about 50,000 people at a pop concert in Nanchang in Jiangxi province.

"(The Fugitive) was allegedly involved in economic crimes and registered in the national online system he was very surprised and had a blank face when we arrested him," said a police officer.