Baidu Eye: China’s Google working on smart glasses technology

Baidu, dubbed China’s Google, is working on its own smart glasses technology, a project similar to Google’s Glass.

A Baidu spokesman said the glasses would be able to search by using facial recognition.

Kaiser Kuo told Reuters that Baidu, China’s largest search engine, had not yet decided whether the glasses would be made commercially available.

“We experiment with every kind of technology that is related to search,” Kaiser Kuo said.

A leaked image taken at Baidu’s offices show a person wearing a headset matching the description of Baidu Eye

Like Google Glass, the Baidu glasses – reportedly known internally as Baidu Eye – consist of a small LCD screen attached to a slim headset.

A leaked image taken at Baidu’s offices show a person wearing a headset matching the description – but Baidu would not confirm if it was Baidu Eye.

Some early reports had suggested that news of the technology was in fact an April Fool’s joke – but while some reports on April 1st were embellished, there was truth behind the rumours.

Kaiser Kuo said that the technology makes the most of Baidu’s considerable expertise in facial recognition.

“What you are doing with your camera, for example, taking a picture of a celebrity and then checking on our database to see if we have a facial image match, you could do the same thing with a wearable visual device.”

Such words are likely to alarm those worried about the capabilities of this type of technology.

Campaign group “Stop the Cyborgs” has called for limits on when the headsets can be used.