Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming societies around the globe, ushering in new possibilities for innovation and advocacy. But it has also become a battleground between autocrats and activists. Authoritarian regimes, armed with vast resources and cutting-edge AI tools, have gained a significant upper hand in surveilling, targeting, and suppressing dissent. Meanwhile, activists often lack the resources and training they need to leverage AI and fight back.

This resource gap leaves activists vulnerable, excludes them from shaping the future development of AI, and hinders their ability to counter oppression. Closing the gap is essential for protecting human rights and ensuring that AI evolves in ways that uphold transparency, justice, and freedom.

How Oppressive Governments Weaponize AI Technologies

Autocrats and oppressive governments are increasingly using AI to monitor, target, and silence activists; undermine democratic processes; and consolidate power. Through mass surveillance, facial recognition, predictive policing, online harassment, and electoral manipulation, AI has become a potent tool for authoritarian control.

AI-powered facial-recognition systems are the cornerstone of modern surveillance. The Chinese Communist Party has implemented vast networks of AI-driven cameras capable of identifying individuals in real time. The technology is often used to monitor public gatherings, protests, and even day-to-day activities, making it nearly impossible for activists to operate anonymously. China has also used AI to target the Uyghur community under the guise of counterterrorism. Protesters in Hong Kong employed tactics like wearing masks, shining lasers at cameras, and using umbrellas to thwart facial recognition during antigovernment demonstrations in 2019, but reports emerged of individuals still being arrested based on AI-assisted identification. In Russia too, AI surveillance tools monitor antigovernment protesters. In 2021, Moscow’s expansive facial-recognition network was reportedly used to track and detain individuals participating in anti-Putin demonstrations.

The chilling effect of such technologies cannot be overstated: They deter activism and dissent through fear of retribution. What is worse, the technology is being exported and shared around the world.

Read the full article about how autocrats weaponize AI by Albert Cevallos at Journal of Democracy.