https://www.mashaborak.com/work daily 0.75 2023-07-18 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/indias-chinese-app-ban-mirrors-chinas-own-policies monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1fa8c2d7-d71f-4d4a-a3ba-3aefdddc2a26/d48c415c-bc53-11ea-b64b-070a892763db_image_hires_094310.jpeg.jpg Work - SCMP | India's Chinese app ban mirrors China's own policies - Make it stand out Chinese-made TikTok, Shareit, UC Browser, Baidu Maps and WeChat are among 59 Chinese apps India banned this week, citing "security of state and public order,” among other reasons. (Picture: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg) https://www.mashaborak.com/work/how-a-reddit-like-forum-helped-taiwan-prepare-early-for-covid-19 monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/dabd8167-9ff3-4835-b53e-0fba8e4461ef/image2_0.jpg.jpg Work - SCMP | How a Reddit-like forum helped Taiwan prepare early for Covid-19 - Make it stand out Covid-19 has taken more than 130,000 lives around the world, but Taiwan has managed to keep infections low. (Picture: Chiang Ying-ying/AP) https://www.mashaborak.com/work/companies-are-hacking-facial-recognition-to-make-it-safer monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/d791cb23-24db-42b6-bba0-306f443800cb/6ded00ae-ac8f-11ea-bf1b-7541df8028ff_image_hires_164702.jpg.jpg Work - SCMP | Companies are hacking facial recognition to make it safer - Make it stand out Qingfei Technologies R&D director Tim Li likens the process of cracking facial recognition to hacking blockchains: It can be done, but is it worth the time? Photo: Chris Chang https://www.mashaborak.com/work/sensetime-parlays-academic-bona-fides-in-facial-recognition-artificial-intelligence-platform monthly 0.5 2022-11-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1649434300713-UBN25FKB3FF4HHJ6BHJJ/Screen+Shot+2022-04-08+at+13.09.38.png Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out How facial recognition works Your face is becoming your key to accessing your money, your devices and passing through security checks. Unlike a fingerprint, your face can be scanned from a distance without your knowledge. Here’s how it's done. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1649434304806-RP6EJYAU0UUHU4YH4RA1/Screen+Shot+2022-04-08+at+13.10.23.png Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out Other systems use infrared images to achieve facial recognition. Infrared is not affected by shadow in the visible light spectrum. Source: Microsoft https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1649434308644-DH0ZAY2WYZ5NJIME9NH3/Screen+Shot+2022-04-08+at+13.10.30.png Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out Here's how it's done at greater distances. Security systems scan the image for faces. Isolate face from crowd Source: École de Technologie Supérieure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1649434308511-7552ANGOSWFVR5Q5I0UL/Screen+Shot+2022-04-08+at+13.10.40.png Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out Facial features are isolated, and if the image isn't infrared the colour is taken out. Locate features Source: École de Technologie Supérieure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/ce9f64e9-882e-4365-8eee-734c6c6cd392/492c6eae-016f-11ec-83d9-2f907cc4e7e5_image_hires_000856.jpeg.jpg Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out SenseTime’s object detection and tracking technology on display at the Artificial Intelligence Exhibition & Conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, April 4, 2018. Photo: Bloomberg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/d6738d04-c74c-4183-a8a6-105bf573411f/072d1248-015f-11ec-83d9-2f907cc4e7e5_972x_000856.jpg Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out SenseTime’s founder Tang Xiao’ou making a presentation on October 17, 2018. Photo: Handout https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/028073c5-fe2c-407d-a525-b58237ec624e/29894a24-016d-11ec-83d9-2f907cc4e7e5_972x_000856.jpg Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/6bed30a7-5899-4ade-a998-1d0e678e5832/a04585ae-0165-11ec-83d9-2f907cc4e7e5_972x_000856.jpg Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out SenseTime’s chief executive and co-founder Xu Li speaking at a forum of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on September 18, 2018. Photo: Handout https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1649434303050-T0ROTQJZI35ONT9H1XEE/Screen+Shot+2022-04-08+at+13.10.00.png Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out our face is measured at more than 80 "nodal points", and the span between them is then used to create a long unique number called a faceprint. Source: howstuffworks.com https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1649434310248-0T463S6KZ9DIB7TT3TTS/Screen+Shot+2022-04-08+at+13.11.04.png Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out ..then the faceprint is compared to a database of faceprints. The error rate can be as low as 0.8 per cent, but has matched incorrectly in the past. Match faceprint in database Source: École de Technologie Supérieure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1649434309940-T7PTW2ZX9VF68VCQ57QN/Screen+Shot+2022-04-08+at+13.10.54.png Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out The measurements are made into a faceprint... Measure features, build faceprint Source: École de Technologie Supérieure https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/ba3292a4-9658-42a7-90f1-24ad8d0f436d/9739ab18-0299-11ec-83d9-2f907cc4e7e5_972x_000856.jpg Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out SenseTime’s AI-driven rendering technology, known as SenseMARS, on display at the Hong Kong Science Park in the New Territories. on August 17, 2021. The technology renders a mirror image or photograph in the artistic style of Vincent van Gogh, that moves in real time with the subject. Photo: Xiaomei Chen. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/ab308d96-4858-40c0-993a-dbcf62a0d6da/3b2ae204-00d4-11ec-83d9-2f907cc4e7e5_972x_000856.jpg Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out A recent photo of Wang Xiaogang, professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and co-founder of SenseTime. Photo: SenseTime https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/4a3d509e-b7e9-4149-a19b-0a2804dce9de/f4e62042-00d3-11ec-83d9-2f907cc4e7e5_972x_000856.jpg Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out Facial recognition works by pinpointing and measuring facial features. In 2014, a CUHK research team led by Tang Xiao’ou developed algorithms that could recognise faces at an accuracy rating of 99.15 per cent, better than humans. Photo: CUHK https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/87c988d6-e65c-43c1-b269-b336c65da36c/b9bf06f2-00cc-11ec-83d9-2f907cc4e7e5_972x_000856.jpg Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out An interior view of SenseTime’s office at the Caohejin Hi-Tech Park in Shanghai’s Xuhui district. Photo: Handout https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/98b7671a-2255-438b-ae05-e00fb10d5fbf/467752be-0160-11ec-83d9-2f907cc4e7e5_972x_000856.jpg Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out Record funding for Al start-ups in 2019. Source: CB Insights. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/6a9e3679-a9e5-4b4d-86f6-267d832de7cd/9e8dedca-0159-11ec-83d9-2f907cc4e7e5_972x_000856.jpg Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/566fd611-c09e-4744-a5f1-cb19ed74abca/c46286ce-00cc-11ec-83d9-2f907cc4e7e5_972x_000856.jpg Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out SenseTime’s office at the Caohejin Hi-Tech Zone in Shanghai’s Xuhui district. Photo: Handout https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1649434304262-NEKGRSXRX9IGN8WME2AO/Screen+Shot+2022-04-08+at+13.10.10.png Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out The iPhone shines a grid of 30,000 infrared dots on a face and makes a crude 3D model. Source: apple.com https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1649434309640-J0G3T6A7Z7L49CKT3HIH/Screen+Shot+2022-04-08+at+13.10.47.png Work - SCMP | Exclusive: How professors in Hong Kong built the world's largest AI unicorn - Make it stand out The system then re-orients the facial features to allow standard measurement. Align features Source: École de Technologie Supérieure https://www.mashaborak.com/work/bots-or-people-pro-china-disinformation-campaigns-make-it-hard-to-tell monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/7892b6b6-1217-4c88-8faf-350a482c0f38/scmp_22aug19_ns_rally105.jpg.jpg Work - SCMP | Bots or people? Pro-China disinformation campaigns make it hard to tell - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.mashaborak.com/work/ukraines-tech-community-rallies-to-support-refugees-and-battle-misinformation monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1649437865843-WHMH0WGELMT4MEYSFKV4/h_20.93201654-1600x900.jpg Work - Rest of World | Ukraine's tech community rallies to support refugees and battle misinformation - Make it stand out Stefan Boness/VISUM/Redux https://www.mashaborak.com/work/how-technology-fuels-hong-kongs-protester monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/ad5b9228-ee50-467f-99da-dc285ed9a564/scmp_12jun19_ns_admiralty101.jpg.jpg Work - SCMP | How technology fuels Hong Kong's protesters - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.mashaborak.com/work/doxxing-has-become-a-powerful-weapon-in-the-hong-kong-protests monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/3e955cd7-5b0e-4f1c-9e9d-c46c8ddfcb3b/topshot-hong_kong-china-politics-unrest-crime.jpg.jpg Work - SCMP | Doxxing has become a powerful weapon in the Hong Kong protests - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.mashaborak.com/work/i-bought-a-one-way-ticket-inside-russias-sudden-tech-exodus monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1649438941082-F1HZ65YW60UCELRLSRK6/GettyImages-1237470950-1600x900.jpg Work - Rest of World | "I bought a one-way ticket": Inside Russia's sudden tech exodus - Make it stand out Gavriil Grigorov/TASS/Getty Images https://www.mashaborak.com/work/chinas-gig-workers-are-challenging-their-algorithmic-bosses monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1649438986300-JQD7AUU1KOHTYB5LAD50/Delivery-Drivers-China-Business-1231882268.jpg Work - Wired | China’s Gig Workers Are Challenging Their Algorithmic Bosses - Make it stand out PHOTOGRAPH: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES https://www.mashaborak.com/work/ukrainian-twitch-stars-are-streaming-the-war-to-their-russian-audience monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/bitmain-asic-ai monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/russian-tech-worker-exodus-2022-4 monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/what-can-the-three-body-problem-tell-us-about-chinas-tech-industry monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/chinese-surveillance-giant-expanding-us-attracts-scrutiny-over-possible monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/chinas-social-credit-system-ai-driven-panopticon-or-fragmented-foundation-for-a-sincerity-culture monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/chinese-developers-fear-losing-open-source-tech-trade-war monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/2017/09/tongue-ties monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/beyond-great-firewall-chinas-vast-censorship-apparatus-ropes-companies monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/as-chinas-working-population-falls-factories-turn-to-machines-to-pick-up-the-slack monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/russian-influencers-facebook-youtube monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/china-using-social-credit-apps-gamify-government monthly 0.5 2022-04-23 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/iot-ip-protection-china monthly 0.5 2022-06-11 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/chinas-dancing-grannies-are-driving-a-tech-boom monthly 0.5 2022-06-11 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/tiktok-was-stress-reliever-hong-kongs-domestic-helpers-now-its-gone monthly 0.5 2022-06-11 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/why-do-people-china-spend-so-much-live-streamers monthly 0.5 2022-06-11 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/scmp-croatias-china-built-eu-funded-bridge-to-open-over-troubled-waters monthly 0.5 2022-06-30 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/2022/russian-tech-workers-armenia monthly 0.5 2022-07-25 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/russias-6-month-war-on-wikipedia monthly 0.5 2022-09-08 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/uyghur-internet-erased-china monthly 0.5 2022-11-26 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/live-streaming-e-commerce-booming-china-after-covid-19-pandemi monthly 0.5 2022-12-20 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/romance-and-court-intrigue-how-female-focused-games-find-success-china monthly 0.5 2022-12-20 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/moscow-safe-city-ntechlab monthly 0.5 2023-02-06 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/ukraine-war-russia-tech-industry-yandex-skolkovo monthly 0.5 2023-04-04 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/telegram-russia-war-news-blogging-censorship-disinformation monthly 0.5 2023-07-18 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/slate-the-means-of-gaming-production monthly 0.5 2023-07-18 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/category/Business monthly 0.5 https://www.mashaborak.com/work/tag/Vice monthly 0.5 https://www.mashaborak.com/home daily 1.0 2023-04-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620bc0ed4c778d37183b956e/1565f434-dafe-41ed-b280-19446dc8a69e/57230002.jpg Home - Masha Borak I am a journalist reporting on the intersection of technology and politics, business, and society. My stories have been published by Business Insider, Vice, Wired, Rest of World, MIT Technology Review and other media outlets. Previously, I worked as a tech reporter for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and TechNode in Beijing. My work so far has included diving into surveillance and disinformation, untangling the relationship between AI and gig work, and covering tech during conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the 2019 Hong Kong protests. I also write about online culture, Big Tech regulation, business, and trade. I hold a Master’s degree from the University of Zagreb and am a recipient of the Chinese Government Scholarship. I speak English, Russian, Mandarin, and Croatian. https://www.mashaborak.com/contact daily 0.75 2022-07-19