How Alibaba’s City Brain is solving traffic congestion
Artificial Intelligence might lead to smarter cities, but could also be used for surveillance

A new artificial intelligence system that has cut congestion in China and is set to be rolled out to other cities around the world could also be used for surveillance, privacy campaigners have warned.
Alibaba’s City Brain uses AI to gather information from intersection cameras and GPS data on the locations of cars and buses. The platform then analyses this information in real time to coordinate road signals around the city with the aim of preventing or easing gridlock.
Alibaba’s home town of Hangzhou was once ranked as China’s fifth most congested city, but it has now dropped to 57th after a two-year trial by the ecommerce giant.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The company says City Brain has shortened commutes, enabled fire engines and ambulances to halve their response times to emergencies, and helped track illegal parking in real time.
Last year the scheme was extended to other urban areas of China and to Kuala Lumpur, but “experts say this is just the start”, says CNN.
Tech HQ reports that Volkswagen and Siemens have teamed up to test a smart light system in VW’s German hometown of Wolfsburg.
The site says “a section of road with 10 traffic signal systems that transmit information about its light phases is expected to tell a driver, or a self-driving car of the future, when to expect a wave of green lights”.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
A recent report from the McKinsey Global Institute predicts that by 2025, cities using such systems could cut commutes by an average of 15% to 20%.
Yet “with Alibaba’s city data grab come concerns about privacy and surveillance”, says Wired.
The aim, says the magazine, is “to create a cloud-based system where information about a city, and as a result everyone in it, is stored and used to control the city”.
Gemma Galdon Clavell, a social scientist working on the ethics of technology, said: “The implications are huge. There will be no oversight nor control not only of stated uses but also future uses.”
It follows a recent survey, by tech firm Tencent and Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, which found nearly 80% of respondents said they worried about the impact of AI on their privacy.
Galdon Clavell says the usefulness for citizens, in the way of improved services is not clear, but it is clear it will be valuable for profiling and commercial activities.
“What is sold as a public or safety initiative ends up using public infrastructure and the public to mine data for private uses,” she says.
-
Bluetoothing: the phenomenon driving HIV spike in Fiji
Under the Radar ‘Blood-swapping’ between drug users fuelling growing health crisis on Pacific island
-
Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetime
Feature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
-
Book reviews: ‘We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution’ and ‘Will There Ever Be Another You’
Feature The many attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution and Patricia Lockwood’s struggle with long Covid
-
Supersized: The no-limit AI data center build-out
Feature Tech firms are investing billions to build massive AI data centers across the U.S.
-
Digital addiction: the compulsion to stay online
In depth What it is and how to stop it
-
AI workslop is muddying the American workplace
The explainer Using AI may create more work for others
-
Prayer apps: is AI playing God?
Under The Radar New chatbots are aimed at creating a new generation of believers
-
Is the UK government getting too close to Big Tech?
Today’s Big Question US-UK tech pact, supported by Nvidia and OpenAI, is part of Silicon Valley drive to ‘lock in’ American AI with US allies
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?
Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Albania’s AI government minister: a portent of things to come?
In The Spotlight A bot called Diella has been tasked with tackling the country's notorious corruption problem
-
The tiny Caribbean island sitting on a digital 'goldmine'
Under The Radar Anguilla's country-code domain name is raking in millions from a surprise windfall