Authoritarian Regimes and Innovation: The Case of AI in China
Innovation and authoritarian regimes can sometimes coexist and feed off each other. This is demonstrated by a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on the development of facial recognition surveillance technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI) in China.
The Emergence of AI-tocracy
Historically, authoritarian regimes often resist technological innovation. In almost all cases, technological revolutions are seen as destabilizing elements that weaken power. However, by studying the specific case of China, researchers from MIT, the National Science Foundation, Harvard University, and other British institutions have found that the country leverages innovation to better control dissenting populations and ensure its economic development.
In China, AI-powered facial recognition technologies have been massively deployed by the government for years. This is a way to suppress and limit protests. In their study, scientists discovered that in the most “tense” points in China, there are more government purchases of these AI-boosted population identification systems.
The Impact of AI-tocracy on Innovation and Control
It appears that if the regime invests heavily in these AI to ensure its political control, it also stimulates innovation for international export. Researchers have named this phenomenon “AI-tocracy”. In other words, the developments of AI serve both to suppress protests and ensure the country’s innovation capacity.
To consolidate their study, the team used data from the GDELT (Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone) project. This project records news flows on a global scale. Thus, 9,267 local political disturbances were listed between 2014 and 2020 in the country. They mixed these data with nearly 3 million public contracts issued by the government between 2013 and 2019. It turned out that the local authorities’ purchase of cameras and AI-assisted facial recognition systems systematically increased a few months after a public disturbance episode in these regions.
The Future of AI-tocracy
Whether the use of this equipment has helped to better silence oppositions is hard to know, although researchers believe this is the case. According to their conclusions, technologies were deployed when there were demonstrations. Each time, the level of protest was reduced. As for the economic development due to this equipment, it appeared that companies that win the markets design nearly 50% more technological tools in the following two years.
In other words, this government boost towards more authoritarianism gives a real boost to the development of technologies, especially those around AI. A growth that could not have existed otherwise according to the study. Researchers will now focus more specifically on some of their conclusions and in particular, the export of these advanced technologies.
According to them, the marketing of these facial recognition tools abroad already shows that government repression could well become a global phenomenon. In France, the temptation around these tools is strong, as evidenced by the so-called JO 2024 law, the experimentation of cameras with facial recognition systems during major public demonstrations. Recently, the Senate voted for the use of these AI-powered systems for real-time surveillance in public space. An intention that goes against a decision of the European Union which is rather betting on strict supervision of the use of AI to better monitor populations.
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