China has been utilising powerful supercomputers that can scan the country’s entire population in 1 second.

And the Chinese government has been putting it to good use too. Over the last two years, the system has been used to arrest 2,000 people.

Local police have already been using the technology to track people’s movements, friends, and even try to predict crime.

According to the Global Times, sixteen cities, municipalities, and provinces are using the frighteningly fast surveillance system that has an accuracy rate of 99.8%.

Local Chinese newspaper Worker’s Daily, stated: “The system is fast enough to scan China’s population in just one second, and it takes two seconds to scan the world’s population.”

The system is part of Skynet, a nationwide monitoring program launched in 2005 to increase the use and capabilities of surveillance cameras.

The use of facial-recognition technology is soaring in China where it is being used to increase efficiencies and improve policing. Cameras are used to catch jaywalkers, find fugitives, track people’s regular hangouts, and even predict crime before it happens, according to Business Insider.

Currently, there are 170 million surveillance cameras in China and, by 2020, the country hopes to have 570 million — that’s nearly one camera for every two citizens.

Facial recognition technology is just a small part of the artificial intelligence industry that China wants to pioneer.

According to a report by CB Insights, five times as many AI patents were applied for in China than the US in 2017.

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