Alipay Introduces AI-Powered Hair Loss Detection Tool Amid Privacy Concerns
Summary:
China's leading payment app, Alipay, has introduced an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool for detecting hair loss. This new utility is part of its diverse application features that includes ride sharing, shopping, and social media functionality, among others. The move aims to streamline online payments and various other lifestyle services in one platform. However, concerns are raised due to issues related to user privacy and data access by the government and other entities.
In an unlikely turn of events, China's leading payment application, Alipay, has introduced a novel feature: an AI-based mini app for detecting hair loss. The "superapp", which permits users to link their bank accounts for quick online payments, has an interesting array of other features too. Beyond just making payments seamless, Alipay has diversified its services to include ride sharing, mobile services, utility bill payments, coupons, travel services, shopping, and social media interactions. The most recent addition to this suite of features is a tool for detecting hair loss. As reported by the South China Morning Post, users are given the option to upload pictures of their scalp. These images are then scrutinized by an AI model that has been trained on thousands of medically significant images, and suggestions are provided, including potential medical interventions. The artificial intelligence tool, termed "Medical Assistant", was formerly introduced in April 2024 by Alipay, which was developed by Alibaba's fintech subsidiary, Antgroup. The fundamental rationale behind merging a digital wallet app, a lifestyle services app and a medical tool is to add convenience and streamline services. However, while such all-in-one apps are popular in Asia, they are yet to gain traction in Europe and North America. Prominent figures like Elon Musk have endorsed the concept of a "superapp". Musk has expressed on several occasions his desire to transform X.com into such an app, akin to those in the Chinese market. However, global privacy advocates have raised concerns about such apps, as they aggregate user information in a way that could potentially leave user privacy and security at the mercy of the app owners and external entities with data access. Alipay, for instance, is obliged by the Chinese government to provide user data when necessary. Despite the lack of specifics on how this data is utilized, building and operating a real-time database tracking user activity seems possible, essentially creating a citizen activity tracker. This is similar to Friend.tech's confusion-causing plan to create their own blockchain.
Published At
6/9/2024 7:52:34 PM
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