(VOVWORLD) - South Korea will soon roll out a pilot project to use artificial intelligence, facial recognition and thousands of CCTV cameras to track the movement of people infected with the coronavirus, despite concerns about privacy.
The nationally funded project in Bucheon, one of the country's most densely populated cities on the outskirts of Seoul, is due to become operational in January, a city official told Reuters.
The system uses an AI algorithms and facial recognition technology to analyse footage gathered by more than 10,000 CCTV cameras and track an infected person’s movements, anyone they had close contact with, and whether they were wearing a mask.
The Bucheon official said the system should reduce the strain on overworked tracing teams in a city with a population of more than 800,000 people, and help use the teams more efficiently and accurately.