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A tech company has made Artificial Intelligence that can snoop on people and sound an alarm if they fail to social distance, as shown in a video blasted as “dystopian” by critics.

Landing AI said its “detector” can keep watch on people and make sure they keep at least two metres apart as dictated by social-distancing guidelines during the coronavirus pandemic.

In the CCTV footage, pedestrians walking down Oxford High Street in the UK are marked with a box.

The box, green by default, flashes red if a person walks too close to someone else, as calculated by the AI.

(Image: Landing AI)

According to Landing AI, the system can also “issue an alert to remind people to keep a safe distance if the protocol is violated”.

It is not clear if this alert would be an alarm sound or an automated voice announcement.

Landing AI’s founder Andrew Ng shared the video on his Twitter and said the technology was designed to support social distancing and “keep us safe”.

But sceptics replying to his tweet claimed the technology was an invasion of privacy and angrily voiced their opinions.

“One step closer to a totalitarian technocratic regime,” tweeted a critic.

A second person joked: “Here @landingAI we’re building tools for tomorrow’s dystopia!”

“If you stand too close to someone, your social credit score goes down,“ said a third viewer, referencing the controversial scheme in China.

Presumably, the detector is unable to identify if people within two metres are in the same household so its application is less suitable for public use.

But some companies are already trailing similar software in their workplaces to ensure employees stay apart.

Landing AI said it thinks the best use of its software will be in the manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries for workplace monitoring.

The CCTV of Oxford High Street was recorded in 2009 and is known as the Oxford Town Centre dataset.