Probably no one has any doubts that the Middle Kingdom is one big police state in which citizens are monitored at every turn. However, the government has even more interesting plans to increase Big Brother’s power.
By the end of the year, more than 60 million surveillance cameras are to operate in this country, which continuously observe citizens and tourists 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Tens of millions of Big Brother’s eyes are integrated with artificial intelligence systems that are able to identify people and collect all key information about them. They are necessary for the functioning of the Citizens’ Assessment System, on the basis of which social status is determined in the Middle Kingdom.
The whole system will now be completed by a fleet of robo-police officers. According to the plan, they will patrol the streets of major cities. However, their task will not only be to detect dangerous situations in advance, but also to provide valuable information and warnings to the public. The authorities want to send tens of millions of such intelligent machines to the street in the next few years, and even build fully robotic police stations.
It should be emphasized here that each of the robots has access to a large database of citizens and can gather new ones and exchange them with other machines on an ongoing basis. When a crime occurs, the machines will not turn into Robocop and will not chase, but cameras and sensors installed on their decks will allow to quickly and efficiently track down the suspect, and then increase the chance of his arrest.
China is not the only country in the world which implements such an idea. Currently, robo-police officers can boast of India, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. In all these countries, such machines were warmly received by the public, and their presence on the streets caused a significant increase in safety. These arguments go to the authorities, which is why they decided to use this benefit in their program of monitoring the state.