Facial recognition technology becomes the next hot spot, foreign media is optimistic about the prospects of the Chinese market

　　Foreign media reported that a Chinese startup that sells facial recognition systems to police officers is valued at more than $1.5 billion, which is enough to show that facial recognition technology has become one of the hottest technology fields at the moment. Let's follow the security electronics editor to learn about the relevant content.

　　Beijing-based SenseTime said on Tuesday it had raised $410 million from investors, joining the club of unicorns, the investment community's term for relatively new companies with valuations of more than $1 billion.

　　SenseTime provides surveillance systems to Chinese law enforcement agencies, which use facial recognition technology.

　　Facial recognition systems from companies such as SenseTime use artificial intelligence technology to compare images in a database with the crowd and then lock on to the target.

　　Facial recognition typically breaks down a person's face into a series of elements and creates a template that can be matched with other people in a database.

　　Facial recognition technology has taken off particularly fast in China, where a host of surveillance cameras, nationwide photo ID retrieval and relatively weak privacy attitudes are helping.

　　Law enforcement uses facial recognition to identify suspects and arrest them. Local authorities also use the technology to monitor people walking without following traffic rules. In a park near Shanghai, facial recognition technology is also used to prevent competitors from taking shortcuts during competitions.

　　With the development of commercial use, facial recognition technology is increasingly being applied to new areas such as access control, boarding, ATM withdrawals and hotel registration.

　　American technology companies are also quite active in facial recognition technology. The social network Facebook is regarded as a pioneer in this field. Last year, Apple acquired artificial intelligence technology company Emotient. This San Diego-based startup is dedicated to determining people's emotions through facial expression analysis. FaceFirst, based in Los Angeles, provides facial recognition systems for American airports and military bases.

　　Founded in 2014, SenseTime, which has 500 employees, also provides facial and image recognition technology to the financial and mobile internet industries. Local Chinese governments are among SenseTime's big customers.

　　SenseTime Chief Executive Officer Xu Li said the company will use the new funds to retain and recruit talent and research other technologies that rely on artificial intelligence, including driverless technology and medical diagnosis.

　　SenseTime’s investors include Chinese private equity fund CDH Investments and Sail Capital, a venture capital fund linked to the Shanghai municipal government.

　　Wu Shangzhi, chairman of CDH Investments, said: "We have seen signs that artificial intelligence is changing traditional industries. Artificial intelligence is now at a good time to exert a huge influence."

　　According to relevant data, Chinese technology startups focusing on artificial intelligence raised $500 million in the first half of this year, compared with $700 million for the whole of last year. There is no specific data for startups targeting facial recognition.

　　Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma and Foxconn are also investors in such startups. Yunfeng Capital, founded by Ma, is an investor in Shanghai Yitu Technology. Foxconn holds a stake in Beijing Megvii Technology.

　　Zhang Zhuo, director of artificial intelligence research at market research firm IDC China, said that providing intelligent monitoring systems for national security provides a huge boost to start-ups. Zhang Zhuo said that China has a sufficient annual public security budget, which makes it easier for companies in this field to generate revenue.

　　Analysts say investments in facial recognition are expected to continue to grow, especially in China as it pushes ahead with the development of artificial intelligence technology.

　　“This area is likely to attract more and more attention, and investment will grow accordingly,” Zhang said. “The use cases of facial recognition in different industries and fields will only grow.”

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