Canon has unveiled a new smart camera with smile recognition technology.
Canon, a leading imaging and camera company, said the software is being implemented in its Beijing office and is also being marketed at companies in Singapore.
Using so-called “smile recognition” technology, Cannon said the system is intended to make the office more fun in the post-coronavirus era.
The cameras only allow smiling employees to enter rooms or book meetings, ensuring that every employee is absolutely 100% happy at all times.
The newspaper published a report on how Chinese companies are monitoring employees to an alarming degree with the help of artificial intelligence and algorithms.
Canon China is defending the tech, reiterating that it’s designed to promote a positive atmosphere.
“We have been wanting to encourage employees to create a positive atmosphere by utilizing this system with the smile detection setting ‘on’,” a spokesperson tells Nikkei. “Mostly, people are just too shy to smile, but once they get used to smiles in the office, they just keep their smiles without the system which created a positive and lively atmosphere.”
Canon’s use of AI cameras for enforcing happiness may feel strange, creepy, or alarming, but it’s just one of many ways surveillance technology is creeping into the workplace in countries all around the world.
Face recognition and detection technology has come a long way in consumer cameras in recent years, but as these new AI cameras show, the technology has a wide range of applications beyond making sure photo subjects are well-posed.
