Canon’s AI Cameras Only Let Employees Into Offices If They Look Happy
Image via Valokuva24 / Shutterstock.com
Say cheese, says Canon. Even if you work there. Especially if you work there.
There have been a surprising handful of reports lately about China’s surveillance systems that can even detect if you’re fake-happy at work, and Chinese Canon subsidiary Canon information Technology appears to have installed one of its own. According to Nikkei Asia, in 2020, the company rolled out an “intelligent IT solution” across offices at its Beijing headquarters with “smiley face access control” as one of its functions.
The technology perceives if a person standing in front of its camera is happy, and only allows them into work or lets them book conference rooms when they smile.
Canon detailed in a press release that, given the company’s focus on “laughing” and “big health,” it hopes to promote these aspects in the workplace during the daunting pandemic. “It is hoped that smiles can let everyone relax and get healthy, so as to create a more pleasant working atmosphere and improve efficiency,” the company noted.
This system hasn’t received so many smiles online, where employees have expressed their displeasure about having their feelings intruded on. “So now the companies are not only manipulating our time, but also our emotions,” one staffer wrote on social networking site Weibo.
Defending the concept, Canon China told Nikkei Asia that it just wants to break the shyness and nurture a positive atmosphere in the workplace. “Mostly, people are just too shy to smile,” a spokesperson told the news outlet, “but once they get used to smiles in the office, they just keep their smiles without the system, which has created a positive and lively atmosphere.”
Image via Canon China
Image via Canon China
[via PetaPixel, images via various sources]
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