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The Panopticon Is Already Here
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The Panopticon Is Already Here

Xi Jinping is using artificial intelligence to enhance his government’s totalitarian control – and he’s exporting this technology to regimes around the globe.

Ross Andersen
The Atlantic, 2020
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Democracies lead in AI chips and research, but China could achieve its goal of AI supremacy by 2030. China’s government knows almost everything about its people, from their DNA to their most recent purchases. It wants to know more. China has the largest surveilled population in the world, and its monitoring systems are now in use around the globe. Americans seem unconcerned beyond wanting the latest AI devices that live in their homes and understand their verbal commands. The Atlantic’s deputy editor Ross Andersen cautions that the world should recognize and forestall surveillance’s dominance before it’s too late.

Take-Aways

  • In the race for AI chip supremacy, the United States may have just a 10-year lead over China.
  • China uses its surveillance capability – millions of cameras collecting real-time data – to identify, control and imprison those it deems a threat, notably its Uighur population.
  • AI’s applications are life-enhancing – say for finding a lost child – and terrifying.

About the Author

Ross Andersen is a deputy editor of The Atlantic.

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