A team of scientists in China has developed a 500-megapixel photographic system driven by artificial intelligence.
It is a device capable of capturing thousands of people at a glance (e.g. in a stadium) keeping a perfect detail of each face and immediately comparing it with a database of names.
Many experts welcome a system that will be able to find many military and of course public security applications: controversies on data security and the protection of privacy are also inevitable.
Eyes everywhere
The camera is the result of choral work. There Fudan Fudan University in Shanghai and the Institute of Optics, Mechanics and Physics ofAcademy of Sciences in Changchun they joined forces and achieved results.
The 500 megapixel super camera it has a resolution five times greater than that of the human eye (120 mega pixels) and can capture highly detailed images.
In a stadium with 10.000 people, with a single photo you will get a very clear image of every single face.
The sum of AI, facial recognition, real-time monitoring and cloud computing will allow this system to identify any specific target by isolating it instantly from the context of a mass.
A global look
The super camera is able to create videos with the same, incredible photo resolution, thanks to two special chips developed by the team. A cloud data center will manage this gigantic amount of data by making it available to the authorities authorized to request it.
Zeng Xiaoyang, one of the members of the research group, illustrates among the characteristics of the system that of being able to remotely follow, in real time, the activity of an entire crowd to prevent accidents or violent behavior.
The criticisms
Wang Peiji, of the Harbin Institute of Technology, does not welcome the innovation brought by the new photographic system. Given its characteristics, Wang warns, the device is a serious concern for people's privacy.
