China’s new 500-megapixel ‘super camera’ can instantly recognize you in a crowd

China is already home to extensive facial recognition technology, using it to identify criminals, monitor students’ attention, and even let citizens purchase train tickets.
 
Now, in an attempt to enrich its surveillance arsenal, researchers from the country have developed a 500 megapixel facial recognition camera capable of capturing “thousands of faces at a stadium in perfect detail and generate their facial data for the cloud while locating a particular target in an instant.”
 
The AI-based cloud camera service was developed in collaboration between Shanghai-based Fudan University and Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Changchun, according to Global Times.
 
The “super camera” is also said to have the ability to shoot panoramic photos with a clear image of every single human face, something that can be put to use in extremely crowded public spots.
 
The facial recognition system has been designed keeping national defense, military and public security in mind, the report said, adding it could “serve as a watchdog at military bases, satellite launch bases and national borders to prevent suspicious people and objects from entering or exiting.”

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