AI Surveillance State
PDW C100 drone, Norio Training Area, GA, Source US Army National Guard (ID No. 250802-Z-SE118-7586), Author Sgt. 1st Class Brittany Conley of US Army National Guard (PD as work product of US federal govt.)
Communist China is known to take extreme measures to regulate its Uyghur population, one of over 50 ethnic minorities in the country [1][2][3].
Surveillance has been essential to enforcement of these measures. CNN reports that China is now using artificial intelligence (AI) to surveil and hold sway over its population at large [4A]. Lest you feel superior, America is not far behind.
Surveillance in China
There are some 600 million security cameras in use in China (approximately 3 for every 7 men, women, and children).
A. Authoritarian AI
“[One source indicates] Chinese authorities use algorithms to predict people’s actions, forecasting protests, flagging what authorities call ‘abnormal behavior.’ Even claiming to monitor the emotional state of prison inmates to stop dissent before it ever happens [4B]”
Experts refer to this as “authoritarian AI”, i.e. technology designed to monitor a population; maintain control over it; and, in some instances, act without the need for human intervention.
B. Policing and Military Use of AI
CNN, also, reports that China is developing AI-controlled weapons which may one day soon be able to coordinate, adapt, and continue attacking their intended targets (whether internal or external) without human commands. Evidently, these will include drones capable of swarming like insects, or hunting like hawks and other predators.
Robotic police direct traffic in real time today.
C. Role of China’s Tech Firms
China’s largest tech firms are central to this. ByteDance censors politically sensitive content on Douyin, the Chinese TikTok [4C]. Tencent (TCEHY) assigns risk scores to users based on online behavior [4D]. Baidu (BIDU) sells AI moderation tools used in criminal investigations [4E].
ByteDance is not publicly traded. But TCEHY and BIDU are actually listed on the US Stock Exchange.
Surveillance in America
A 2022 Georgetown University report indicated that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is tracking the habits and compiling data on 75% of Americans, in an effort to locate and deport undocumented aliens [5A][6A].
ICE has spent $2.8 billion of taxpayer money on surveillance, gathering information from driver’s licenses with facial recognition technology; tracking the movements of drivers in major US cities; and compiling utility records for millions of American citizens [5B][6B].
Most of this was done without judicial or congressional oversight.
Algorithms
Algorithms have no concept of privacy. They have no political preferences, and no loyalties. They cannot distinguish right from wrong, and have no conscience. Only their programmers have the capacity for such things.
The rest of us are, in effect, at the mercy of those programmers and whoever may employ them.
Our dystopian future has arrived. All that remains is for an authoritarian president or similar powerful figure to use this technology to control the American population, the same way China controls its own.
End Times
“…Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6: 2).
Christians know that an Antichrist and a one-world government are foretold (Dan. 7: 8 and 25, 8: 23-25; 2 Thess. 2: 3-4; 1 John 2: 18; Rev. 13: 7). According to the Pew Research Institute, 39% of Americans believe we are already living in the End Times [7].
If so, it is urgent that we give our lives to Christ. If not, it is still critical that we choose to follow Christ. Our eternal Salvation depends on that.
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[1] Wikipedia, “List of ethnic groups in China”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_China.
[2] Wikipedia, “Uyghurs”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghurs.
[3] According to victims and former detainees, China’s efforts to suppress Uyghur culture have included mass incarceration in detention camps, forced labor, political indoctrination, torture, sexual violence, forced abortion, sterilization, and family separations. See, https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/NIC-Unclassified-Report-Uyghur-Genocide-Concentrated-Reeducation-Camps-China-Oct2024.pdf.
[4A through 4E] CNN Transcripts, Early Start with Rahel Solomon, “China Turning to AI for Policing” by Will Ripley reporting from Taipei, Taiwan, 2/20/26, https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/esrs/date/2026-02-20/segment/02.
[5] Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology, “American Dragnet – Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century”, 5/10/22 (updated May 2025), https://americandragnet.org/.
[6] Deseret News, “Report: ICE is tracking habits and compiling data on the majority of Americans” by Kyle Dunphy, 5/11/22, https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/5/11/23067036/ice-report-utah-millions-of-americans-tracked-in-attempt-to-curb-illegal-immigration/.
[7] Pew Research Institute, “About four-in-ten US adults believe humanity is ‘living in the end times’” by Jeff Diamant, 12/8/22, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/12/08/about-four-in-ten-u-s-adults-believe-humanity-is-living-in-the-end-times/.
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