Across China, AI ‘city brains’ are changing how the government runs

Authorities at all levels are now using them for everything from pandemic control to monitoring illegal public assemblies

While there are benefits, including anti-corruption features, there are also concerns over privacy and data security

Reading Time:3 minutes

The ‘city brain’ in Beijing’s Haidian district can estimate how many flats are empty based on power consumption. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:00am, 10 Jun 2021Updated: 8:14am, 10 Jun 2021

At the Linshu county headquarters in eastern China, a huge screen covering an entire wall provides round-the-clock information on its 600,000 residents.

From there, the magistrate can access any of the 10,838 surveillance cameras installed in the county, any details uploaded to the government database, and any complaints filed by residents.

It is called the “city brain”, an artificial intelligence system that is now being used across China – only megacities could afford them before – for everything from pandemic contact tracing to monitoring illegal public assemblies and river pollution.

The Beijing district of Haidian installed one in February that can estimate how many flats are empty by looking at power consumption. Heshui, a small county of 150,000 in the northwest province of Gansu, has just signed a deal with telecoms firm Huawei Technologies to build a similar system, according to local media. In Shandong, Linshu county began using its new system last month.

“Almost every city mayor and county magistrate wants a city brain or something like it these days,” said a Beijing-based researcher who tracks Chinese government use of AI technology and declined to be named.

The artificial intelligence systems are being rolled out across the country. Photo: Handout

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