China Shanghai built 150 public toilets that can keep people out for more than 15 minutes and control internal air quality.

Each smart toilet has a body sensor, using infrared and ultrasound to detect people inside and the time they are there, according to documents released by the Shanghai government on 17 / ten. The sensors will also monitor the air quality inside the toilet and the water saving feature will adjust the amount of water appropriately based on how long the toilet is used.

The new toilets are part of the Chinese government's effort to bring artificial intelligence (AI) to every corner of life.

"I think I have no problem but reading a novel in the toilet might not be a good idea," said Frank Lin, 22, a Shanghai resident.

Technology is being applied by Chinese authorities from traffic light coordination, airport security monitoring to waste sorting. At the Shenzhen Hi-tech Center, people who violate traffic laws will have their names and images displayed on public screens using facial recognition technology.

In 2019, the market size of smart cities in China is expected to exceed 10 trillion yuan ($ 1.4 trillion) and is expected to reach 25 trillion yuan ($ 3.5 trillion). 2022. More than 700 cities in China have proposed or in the process of building intelligent infrastructure, according to a report by Qianzhan Industrial Research Institute earlier this year.

After Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are also planning to install intelligent public toilets. However, not everyone supports this initiative.

"It could upset me," said Liu, a Shanghai resident. "From an early age, I was used to sitting in the toilet for half an hour, which means that a toilet worker would check me twice, which made me nervous."