China turns its aging camera network into an AI-powered mass surveillance apparatus (the-decoder.com)

China's police are upgrading millions of old surveillance cameras with AI. Manufacturers like Hikvision and Huawei now ship cameras with built-in computer vision and language models that automatically detect crowds, suspicious behavior, or unauthorized access. Instead of reviewing footage manually, officers just type a text query. Human Rights Watch warns this creates unprecedented behavioral surveillance at scale. The article China turns its aging camera network into an AI-powered mass surveillance apparatus appeared first on The Decoder .