A screen shows visitors being filmed by AI (Artificial Intelligence) security cameras with facial recognition technology at the 14th China International Exhibition on Public Safety and Security at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

China is leading the world in facial recognition algorithms with its best algorithm able to recognize 10 million people without a single mistake in less than a second.The top five of the 39 facial recognition algorithms in the world come from China, according to the Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the US Department of Commerce, which released the test results for 2018 on Friday.YITU Technology, a Shanghai-based company that claimed both the top and second spot on the list, told the Global Times in a statement on Tuesday that its top algorithm can accurately recognize nearly every person in a sample base of 10 million.In comparison, "it is very likely for a human brain to make a mistake in recognizing the identities of 100 people," the company said.Algorithms from Beijing-based company SenseTime won the third and fourth spot, while the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) claimed fifth in the test.YITU said that high facial recognition accuracy means that users gain better experiences when using related products.For example, when a user uses facial ID for payment on a smartphone, the device will not authorize the payment for someone else with a similar appearance as the user, the company noted.YITU used models that are used in actual products during the FRVT, the company said. It proves the real capabilities of its algorithms in real-life applications, according to the company.China is heading the Sharp Eyes project, which uses surveillance cameras, artificial intelligence, facial recognition and big data to provide security and conduct comprehensive governance that fulfill citizens' miscellaneous demands.Police in Guiyang, Southwest China's Guizhou Province are already deploying a facial recognition system that can catch fugitives and suspects who have managed to hide their identities for years.The command center of Guiyang Public Security Bureau used the system to give orders to community policemen after a 4-year-old boy was reported missing in February. The boy was found and returned to his home by police within half an hour.Some 39 companies and institutes around the world participated in the FRVT, including Russian company NtechLab, US company Ever AI and German company Cognitec, according to the NIST leaderboard.The FRVT is considered to be the gold standard in the global facial recognition industry, Chinese news website thepaper.cn said.The FRVT is aimed at measuring the performance of automated face recognition technologies applied to a wide range of civil, law enforcement and homeland security applications, including verification of visa images, de-duplication of passports, recognition across photojournalism images, and identification of child exploitation victims, according to the NIST website.