KFC Using Face-Scan Technology That Lets You Pay For Food

KFC China is letting you keep your money and credit cards in your pocket, as you can now simply pay with your face.

Smile to Pay! @Alipay launched its first facial recognition payment service at KFC’s new KPRO restaurant in East China’s Hangzhou. pic.twitter.com/U6JzXUdtoz

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) September 1, 2017

The technology was introduced by Ant Financial in Hangzhou, and according to CNN Money, the customer puts in their order at a kiosk, which promptly scans their face, making sure it matches the photo ID in the system. The reason they have access to people’s photos is a little scary, but apparently China has a database filled with its citizens photo IDs.

There is one last step that’s not super efficient, as you’d still have to enter your phone number before the payment goes through, but it’s a minor detail.

The payment platform itself is a popular app called Alipay, which has already implemented the facial recognition technology, and has more than half a billion users worldwide. Ant Financial swears the technology is safe, and uses a 3D camera to make sure people don’t try to fool it by using someone else’s photo.

The face-scanning technology sounds like something out of Minority Report, and while that movie is a bit terrifying, you don’t really have to panic about a machine take over — yet.