China Named the World’s Largest Supplier of Facial-Recognition Systems

Researchers from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recognised China as the world’s leading exporter of facial-recognition systems. The United States ranked second, Wired.

Researchers focused on deals related to smart-city technology, where facial recognition is often used to improve video surveillance. They used information on global surveillance projects from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and data gathered from AI companies.

According to the report, Chinese firms accounted for 201 export deals, while American ones accounted for 128.

China also leads in AI overall. According to the researchers, 250 of 1,636 export deals related to AI, in some form, were concluded with 136 importing countries. The United States signed 215 of these deals.

Experts say that increasing the export of these technologies will enable other governments to strengthen surveillance. This would harm human rights, they added.

“China’s exports to these countries could lead them [importers] to become more authoritarian, whereas they could actually become democratic,” says one of the study’s participants, Martin Beraha.

According to the researchers, their report confirms concerns that China is gaining an edge over the United States in AI.

“This demonstrates why we need to set parameters for this type of technology,” said researcher Alexandra Seymour.

The researcher says that the US government could impose sanctions on countries that buy Chinese surveillance systems. At the same time, the United States should lead by example for the rest of the world and regulate facial-recognition technologies, added Seymour.

The United States’ second place in the AI-systems export ranking could undermine the government’s claim that American technologies embody the values of freedom and democracy.

Co-author David Yang added that recent steps to restrain the PRC will not affect existing systems.

“China has already developed a comprehensive set of AI technologies for surveillance that it can sell. Recent restrictions do nothing to change this,” said the scientist.

Seymour added that other new areas of AI could also become surveillance tools, the spread of which should be carefully watched.

In January 2023, the FBI director expressed concern about China’s AI program.

In September 2022, a group of experts released a forecast that by 2030 China would overtake global technological leadership from the United States and its allies.

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