AI Mistakes Ad On a Bus For an Actual CEO, Then Publicly Shames Them For 'Jaywalking' (scmp.com) 154
An anonymous reader quotes the South China Morning Post:
Since last year, many Chinese cities have cracked down on jaywalking by investing in facial recognition systems and AI-powered surveillance cameras. Jaywalkers are identified and shamed by displaying their photographs on large public screens... Developments are also underway to engage the country's mobile network operators and social media platforms, such as Tencent Holdings' WeChat and Sina Weibo, to establish a system in which offenders will receive personal text messages as soon as they are caught violating traffic rules....
Making a compelling case for change is the recent experience of Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman of China's biggest maker of air conditioners Gree Electric Appliances, who found her face splashed on a huge screen erected along a street in the port city of Ningbo... That artificial intelligence-backed surveillance system, however, erred in capturing Dong's image on Wednesday from an advertisement on the side of a moving bus. The traffic police in Ningbo, a city in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, were quick to recognise the mistake, writing in a post on microblog Sina Weibo on Wednesday that it had deleted the snapshot. It also said the surveillance system would be completely upgraded to cut incidents of false recognition in future.
The article says the mistakenly-accused CEO's company later thanked the traffic police for their hard work, and "called on people to obey traffic rules to keep the streets safe."
"The Chinese government is currently working to combine the operations of more than 170 million public security cameras to strengthen its surveillance network's ability to track and monitor the country's 1.4 billion citizens. Research firm IHS Markit has estimated that the number of surveillance cameras in China could reach 450 million by 2020."
Making a compelling case for change is the recent experience of Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman of China's biggest maker of air conditioners Gree Electric Appliances, who found her face splashed on a huge screen erected along a street in the port city of Ningbo... That artificial intelligence-backed surveillance system, however, erred in capturing Dong's image on Wednesday from an advertisement on the side of a moving bus. The traffic police in Ningbo, a city in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, were quick to recognise the mistake, writing in a post on microblog Sina Weibo on Wednesday that it had deleted the snapshot. It also said the surveillance system would be completely upgraded to cut incidents of false recognition in future.
The article says the mistakenly-accused CEO's company later thanked the traffic police for their hard work, and "called on people to obey traffic rules to keep the streets safe."
"The Chinese government is currently working to combine the operations of more than 170 million public security cameras to strengthen its surveillance network's ability to track and monitor the country's 1.4 billion citizens. Research firm IHS Markit has estimated that the number of surveillance cameras in China could reach 450 million by 2020."
It's so obvious (Score:5, Insightful)
The article says the mistakenly-accused CEO's company later thanked the traffic police for their hard work, and "called on people to obey traffic rules to keep the streets safe."
And all along I thought we couldn't have it both ways [theonion.com].
Re:It's so obvious (Score:4, Insightful)
He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother
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The traffic police in Ningbo, a city in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, were quick to recognise the mistake, writing in a post on microblog Sina Weibo on Wednesday that it had deleted the snapshot.
That's not good enough. They need to issue a sincere public apology and monetary compensation for THEIR fuck up.
Re:It's so obvious (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's so obvious (Score:5, Insightful)
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You know that you're in a police state when you have to thank the police for their good work and in the process add a totally mindless "obey the rules" to it too.
Actually you know you're not in a bat shit blame and sue crazy state when a problem arises, is solved quickly, and no one claims that they deserve mountains of money for their "finanical damages" errr I mean hurt feelings.
How does face recognition even work at all (Score:1)
in China where everyone looks alike?
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Looks like for the average Joe, whether you're fucked by government or by corporations doesn't really make that much a difference.
"But I can vote for another government!"
Yeah, that's the difference. With government, you can actually choose the name of the dick that gets to fuck you.
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That's why, back in the 2001 CA governer recall vote*, I voted for the porn star. My theory was we were going to get fucked no matter who won, so it might as well be by someone who really knew what they were doing.
* You voted Yes/No on the recall *AND* for whoever would be gov, if the recall succeeded. I voted no on the recall itself.
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That's why, back in the 2001 CA governer recall vote*, I voted for the porn star. My theory was we were going to get fucked no matter who won, so it might as well be by someone who really knew what they were doing.
Don't blame me, I voted for Gary Coleman.
* You voted Yes/No on the recall *AND* for whoever would be gov, if the recall succeeded. I voted no on the recall itself.
It put Democrats in a fairly bad position. Many of them, like Cruz Bustamonte, had the unenviable task of saying "Vote no on the recall! But also... vote for me for recall governor!" That ticked a number of voters off, but the politicians were screwed either way.
Corporate, government? What's the difference? (Score:1)
Try to find a politician who's not a lobbyist. For some corporation whose actions (as opposed to statements, and only looking at the numbers of given to vs taken from you) show that it is your direct enemy.
Which, if you look at the original laws and their spirit, is literally treason. A crime, so bad, you get 20 years in prison for it. But because it's "normal"... casually done every day.
In the USA, it's the same thing. (And where I live, mostly too.)
How there's still anyone out there, oblivious to this, is
D'uh (Score:5, Interesting)
Cause your going to publicly chew out petty public officials for their half arse algorithms in China, are you? We've all been worried about 1984, when we should have been worried about Brazil. [wikipedia.org]
Some of us are worried about all dystopian plots.. (Score:1)
Hell, at the rate we're going 'Brazil' might actually take place in... wait for it... Brazil! (Also everywhere else, but it is particularly ironic if it comes to roost in the land of its namesake.)
The tele-screen of '1984' is only steps away given modern smart TVs, and if you look at prescription drugs we already have many facets of 'A Brave New World' working their way into common society. If we continue treating billionaires, sports figures, politicians, and corporate leaders as gods we will have similar
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Cause your going to publicly chew out petty public officials for their half arse algorithms in China, are you? We've all been worried about 1984, when we should have been worried about Brazil. [wikipedia.org]
Brazil? Hell no, China's going full on Black Mirror [wikipedia.org]
Test subject #2 (Score:1, Funny)
Let's see what the AI does with this. [reddit.com]
Jaywalking ? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Jaywalking ? (Score:5, Informative)
In Europe we simply call it crossing the road, there's not even a word for it in the languages I know. Why do americans and chinese criminalise jaywalking ? WTF do they think is wrong with simply crossing a road when no cars are present ? I don't get it.
Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Serbia and Slovakia has rules against jaywalking too. But at least in Germany the fine is really symbolic, like 5-10 euro where the cop has to watch you cross and be annoyed enough about it to fine you. It's a cultural thing about rules, you wouldn't ignore a red light in a car because the coast is clear so why is the red man different? If it's there, use it. If it's there, wait for your turn. Don't set a bad example for the kids scurrying across the street at the smallest gap in traffic. It's also not so symbolic when it comes to division of fault and whether something was just an accident or reckless driving, that you were jaywalking counts against you even though the driver has a general obligation - a green light is not a license to ram. Though I prefer our system where we focus on saying it's allowed and focus on making everyone cross safely instead. But both systems works quite well.
Re:Jaywalking ? (Score:5, Funny)
Ever been to France or Italy? They ignore them whether the coast is clear or not.
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In Europe we simply call it crossing the road, there's not even a word for it in the languages I know. Why do americans and chinese criminalise jaywalking ? WTF do they think is wrong with simply crossing a road when no cars are present ? I don't get it.
Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Serbia and Slovakia has rules against jaywalking too. But at least in Germany the fine is really symbolic, like 5-10 euro where the cop has to watch you cross and be annoyed enough about it to fine you. It's a cultural thing about rules, you wouldn't ignore a red light in a car because the coast is clear so why is the red man different? If it's there, use it. If it's there, wait for your turn. Don't set a bad example for the kids scurrying across the street at the smallest gap in traffic. It's also not so symbolic when it comes to division of fault and whether something was just an accident or reckless driving, that you were jaywalking counts against you even though the driver has a general obligation - a green light is not a license to ram. Though I prefer our system where we focus on saying it's allowed and focus on making everyone cross safely instead. But both systems works quite well.
Crossing for red isn't jay-walking. Jay-walking is crossing where there is no light.
Also in China... Red for cars is entirely symbolic the cars DO NOT CARE... First time in Shanghai it took us a few minutes to figure out how to cross the roads as the car just kept driving while they had red and we had green, but then we so locals just step out in front of the cars, and figure we had to do the same...
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Technically jaywalking is crossing where there is not a crosswalk, or in a dangerous manner.
So crossing against the red light is jaywalking. Just as it is to cross when you have the light, but choose to weave through the stopped vehicles instead of at the crosswalk, or when you risk running across the highway because you can probably beat the next car.
Adam Ruins Everything (Score:2)
TL;DR; car companies wanted to take over the roads so they created the term and tied it to a disliked minority to give it a bad connotation. At least that's how it went down in America.
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Jaywalking in Germany is only illegal if you do it in reasonable proximity (don't know if there's an exact number) of a pedestrian crossing.
Then again, many Germans will not cross a red light even when the roads are completely empty and it's like 3am. Always makes me chuckle and cringe at the same time.
Re:Jaywalking ? (Score:4, Interesting)
Much of Europe does have laws against it. It's more a matter of enforcement: Only in America (And apparently China) do police routinely issue citations or occasional arrests.
One criticism of jaywalking laws in the US is that the crime is so common, enforcement depends largely on if the police nearby 'don't like the look of you.' Somewhat unsurprisingly, this often seems to come down to race - a very brief glance at statistics shows a suspiciously high percentage of jaywalking tickets go to blacks.
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Germany too. I remember them warning us before going on a school trip.
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How long ago was that? Because jaywalking is absolutely normal in Germany and has been for several decades.
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It was when 5p coins would work as 1DM in vending machines, so not yesterday.
From Wikipedia: "If one wants to cross the street outside the markings of traffic lights or crosswalks, one must carefully convince one's self before and during the crossing that the road is clear and wait before crossing if a vehicle approaches. A pedestrian must not interrupt the flowing traffic."
Re: Jaywalking ? (Score:2)
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Only in America
Not at all. It's enforced all over the world selectively. But the key is in most cases a policeman actively has to witness the "crime". I've seen it enforced in Australia, the UK, Germany, and The Netherlands as well.
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Much of Europe does have laws against it. It's more a matter of enforcement: Only in America (And apparently China) do police routinely issue citations or occasional arrests.
In the US, or in many boroughs of the US, the police rely on tickets to fund their own departments. So they have a financial incentive to issue speeding tickets, jaywalking tickets, and to impound property.
a very brief glance at statistics shows a suspiciously high percentage of jaywalking tickets go to blacks.
Because Black (though it's more correlated to income than race) neighborhoods tend to be higher crime neighborhoods. So the police hang out there a lot more. So they see a lot more. They issue more tickets, bust more illicit behavior. And the crime stats for that neighborhood tick up, and the cycle contin
Re:Jaywalking ? (Score:4, Informative)
At least in China they aren't using drones to hunt down "criminal street users" yet. YET.
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It's not jaywalking if no cars are present. The definition of the word is to cross the street "without regard for approaching traffic."
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It has to do with the history of how societies deal with homelessness and property in general. In the US, UK and Asia people without property are slaves and criminals and it's expressed through crimes like loitering, jaywalking, squatting and panhandling as well as picketing.
To give an example, in China, people who lost their homes during a conflict would march to the palace and setup tents demanding lands and homes in recompense. The palace couldn't just send soldiers to kill them (well, most of the time)
Because of car industry propaganda. Sources: (Score:1)
The history is, as so often, really fucked-up:
Why Jaywalking Is A Crime -- Adam Ruins Everything [youtube.com]
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Because people in New York (generally; but this applies to most big cities in the US) are arrogant idiots. And lawyers.
If you didn't strictly constrain people from crossing ONLY when permitted, people would be crossing the streets everywhere. If you could step out in front of a reasonably-slowly moving car and score a $1 mill lawsuit, there are lots of people that would - and already do anyway.
Not to mention, having then to look for foot traffic literally everywhere, means drivers wouldn't get that importa
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You assume the person walking across the street is even bothering to pay attention to ANYTHING outside of the smartphone screen they are holding up to their face. ( Then again, we're also assuming the driver of the car hurtling down the street isn't doing the exact same thing. In the case of neither paying attention due to staring at their phones, I wonder who would be considered at fault here. )
Laws are created when common sense checks fail in any significant amount of a population.
If there is a law for
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It was invented as a "crime" in the Deep South, as a way to imprison African-Americans, who frequently could not post bail, and force labor from them.
It still exists for the exact same reason.
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The rules have to be there for liability reasons in the event of an accident so someone can be held responsible.
This is really why China has to have these systems, because they don't have the extremely strong and thousand-year old system of common law that the West does.
In the West, if you're jaywalking and get hit by a car, the driver is not at fault unless there is some extenuating circumstance. If on the other hand you are crossing on a green or at a marked intersection, the driver will be at fault. The
Good Lord (Score:5, Interesting)
You'd think the AI would have figured out no one has a 5-foot-tall head?
If it's that primitive, what's to stop Chinese citizens to walk around with photographs of Mao Zedong hanging in front of their faces? It might be amusing to see the reputation score of the late, great Chairman sinking into the toilet.
Re:Good Lord (Score:4, Insightful)
So they train it to ignore 5 foot tall faces. Then it will catch the face of a motorist making a U turn.
Re:Good Lord (Score:5, Funny)
Just carry a life size poster of chairman Xi Jinping with you wherever you go. Of course only to show your support and loyalty to The Party.
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You'd think the AI would have figured out no one has a 5-foot-tall head?
If it's that primitive, what's to stop Chinese citizens to walk around with photographs of Mao Zedong hanging in front of their faces? It might be amusing to see the reputation score of the late, great Chairman sinking into the toilet.
Um, because they'd get thrown in prison, beaten, and possibly killed?
You do know that China is a totalitarian communist state, right?
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You'd think the AI would have figured out no one has a 5-foot-tall head?
If you went blind in one eye, how would you recognise the size of an object you're analysing if you're unable to identify the distance it is from the camera?
New business opportunity (Score:4, Interesting)
We should sell t shirts and jackets with Xi's face on them. Even better provide a printing service for photos on clothing so people can select their enemies as age for the shirts.
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the getaway could be quick.
It better be. Here, such shenanigans might earn you at worst a trip to the police stations where the cops will turn you out after a coffee and a brief interview. In China... hope you like breaking rocks for a living.
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It is not funny to make fun of Xi (Score:5, Insightful)
No Chinese would dream of that. Probably would not send them in jail, but would get the marked down badly in social credit. And maybe a fine. Certainly expulsion from the Communist party if a member.
China is not a joke. That is why people self-censor very carefully. The risks and penalties are everywhere.
Guys this is funny. (Score:1)
Next up, every action hero has a warrant out for their arrest in China.
Obviously not true (Score:3)
Facial recognition to confirm an identity, or pick one out of small sample is commonplace. But to be able to identify a face and pick out one in a billion people is way beyond software ability. It is also way beyond human capability. In a billion people, there will be thousands that look almost identical.
For the facial recognition to work, it needs to know who is nearby. Not difficult when everyone carries a mobile phone. But it is unlikely that the CEO was on the bus.
For things like passport control into Australia, the system has people stand in an exact spot, with good lighting, and look at a particular point. Quite different from a random image from people walking on a road.
If they did have some magic software that really could pick out one in a billion, then it would not be fooled by a bus!
That said, the Chinese internal surveillance system is very frightening.
Fascist China (Score:4, Insightful)
Where, when the state causes you harm you have to thank them or find yourself checking in your "organ donor card" early.
Don't support, buy from, sell to, or tolerate China.
Re:Fascist China (Score:4)
I didn't actually say that, although what you say is unfortunately true.
China, however, takes it to a new level where the subjects of the Government are reduced to the level of slaves who must publicly thank their masters for a beating because it is supposedly good for their morality.
Still in beta (Score:3)
What every Chinese citizen dreads (Score:2)
she was lucky (Score:3)
being a big CEO, she was lucky to get her picture removed quickly by the police.
i wonder how much success the average chinese person would have in a case like this.
This sounds like a set up for a Will Smith Action (Score:1)
Sound stupid? Of course, it’s a Will Smith action movie, it will be great!
double standard? (Score:2)
Also, since China still has a pretty large problem with official corruption and someone in an office was able to fix this with a few clicks of a mouse, it's only a matter of time before black market social credit buffing becomes a reality.
That's a lot of cameras (Score:2)
The article says there are 170 million surveillance cameras for 1.4 billion people. That's about 1 camera for every 8.2 people.
Further, it says there could be up to 450 million cameras by 2020. Keeping the population the same, that's 1 camera for every 3.1 people.
For a comparison, using Wikipedia, the UK has about 4.2 million cameras (500,000 in London), about 1 for every 14 people:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Just wait for self driving car to make errors like (Score:2)
Just wait for self driving car to make errors like this
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Just wait for self driving car to make errors like this
And do what, stop before it hits the side of a bus?
Dystopian futures while you wait. (Score:2)
Yes, I know credit scores are some weird form of the social score. I'm as of yet not been denied the purchase of a plane ticket and/or bus pass because my credit score is too low...
I can only hope this is a good demonstration of tech gone awry that the world recoils from. Otherwise, I will seriously have to hollow out a hill and become a hermit... Or be
See (Score:2)
This is the level of stupid that we have to make sure is fixed before we start handing these systems access to anything that would be considered a critical system.
( Banking, Stock Markets, Healthcare, Military applications, etc )
Otherwise some future AI is going to be perusing cat pictures on the internet, go f****ng nuts and decide to end us all. :D
Only in an Asian nation... (Score:3)
Only in an Asian nation would publicly shaming someone work. In a western culture someone would just wave smile and go their merry way. Or even better they would be a corporate 'influencer' and make an extra $ off the exposure. Look at me ! I'm on TV.
Dong - Choices for Chinese Names and Romanization (Score:2)
So we still have dirty sounding translations into English like "Dong" for a name. Why? The current trend in romanizing of Chinese is to translate something that sounds like "sheh sheh" which means thank you, into "xiè xie". You have to study Chinese Mandarin in college for 6 months before you'll ever know how to pronounce this stuff now.
I like the way they translated stuff back in the 1960s. You know, Jackie Chan can be said by anybody in an English speaking place just by looking at the name, and it is
Due process (Score:2)
This kind of mistake is precisely why we (mostly) have due process in the United States.
How many non-CEOs didn't get the apology? (Score:2)
This was a story because the victim was a prominent CEO. How many regular people were "caught" by this system for jaywalk on, say, sidewalks, and they just had to live with the shaming?
Re:Ratio of cameras to citizens (Score:5, Insightful)
Right now there is one camera for every ten citizens.
I was in Shanghai last month, and I saw a camera about every 100m or so. That might have been one for every 10 pedestrians on the street, but no where near one for every 10 people in the city.
Anyway, I always though that China dealt with jaywalkers by making it legal for motorists to run over them. Even in a marked cross walk, you are often risking your life in Shanghai traffic.
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I think it was intended as a joke. Really, though, Shanghai drivers follow rules of the road pretty well, if not as well as in the US. Certainly better than many other East Asian nations (not a high standard, but still).
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You seem to misunderstand what 'plausible fact' is. It doesn't sound very plausible that killing other civilians within your own country would ever be permitted anywhere. Instead it sounds like hyperbole, which is exactly what it is.
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" It doesn't sound very plausible that killing other civilians within your own country would ever be permitted anywhere." -Are you trolling? Never heard of castle doctrine, for just a single example? Dozens of ways.
That's a very odd nit for you to try to pick in defense of his bullshit.
You also failed to review his comment history for examples of bullshit presented as fact, because either you're on his balls for real or you're too lazy to even pretend to have a look. He probably has never been to Shangh
Re:Ratio of cameras to citizens (Score:4, Insightful)
I was in Shanghai last month, and I saw a camera about every 100m or so. That might have been one for every 10 pedestrians on the street, but no where near one for every 10 people in the city.
Yup, those were the cameras you saw. You might also ponder whether the biggest city in the world is a representative sample. (And that's not even counting all the smart phones.)
But the important thing is to keep saying positive things about China and it's government, assuming you wan't to keep visiting. You know they're reading your posts, and you know they know who you are.
Life is hard, find someone to blame. (Score:3)
Life is getting harder globally so we are all collectively finding someone to blame.
We see this with Brexit, Donald Trump, Increased Chinese hunting of subversives, rise in support for terrorism, racism, and nationalism...
We are not looking to ourselves to say to yourself "What am I, doing that are making things worse, which I can fix." We are looking at others say "They the others are making things worse" and actively try to make their lives more difficult. While they see you making their lives difficult
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Viscous cycle? Is that like when you use the really thick oil on your bike chain?
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Dude, for the Heaven's sake, please, please, PLEASE seek medical help.
Re: You people need to STOP BULLYING ME... apk (Score:2)
People have been telling him to seek help for decades. You're wasting your breath. Peter thinks he's the only sane one here.
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You've left my hook nose out of your article AGAIN... you are poorly impersonating APK, at best...
death race 2020! (Score:2)
death race 2020!