Chinese ‘gait recognition’ tech IDs people by how they walk

A Chinese technology startup hopes to begin selling software that recognises people by their body shape and how they walk, enabling identification when faces are hidden from cameras. — Photos: AP

Chinese authorities have begun deploying a new surveillance tool: “gait recognition” software that uses people’s body shapes and how they walk to identify them, even when their faces are hidden from cameras.

Already used by police on the streets of Beijing and Shanghai, “gait recognition” is part of a push across China to develop artificial-­intelligence and data-driven ­surveillance that is raising concern about how far the technology will go.