The Guangzhou government in China has released the country's first batch of "WeChat identity cards", which enable owners to identify themselves using facial recognition technology on smartphones and an AI platform, reports Xinhua news agency. The programme is expected to launch across the country in January. Verified users will be able to do things like checking in at hotels by scanning their faces with their phones. End-users' identities are authenticated through an AI system.
The WeChat social messaging platform has 980 million registered users and is owned by local company Tencent. With the release of these identity cards, the company wants to improve its relation with the Chinese government after it was investigated in August for alleged illegal content, reports Cnet. WeChat also has a mobile wallet service called WeChat Pay.
