As artificial intelligence continues to become more powerful every day, people across the world are worried about its potential. One thing is clear: it is changing the way we live. But its potential is what we need to be concerned about. A new study from Anthropic has warned that AI may soon become strong enough to help authoritarian governments monitor, control and repress citizens on a scale the world has never seen before.
The tech firm wrote in its study that the global race between China and the US could decide whether AI is used to strengthen citizens or expand state surveillance and political control. It said, “We’re releasing a new paper that explains our views on the competition on AI between the US and China. AI will soon become powerful enough to be used to repress citizens at an unprecedented scale and even to alter the balance of power among nations.”
Fear Of “Authoritarian AI”
The report notes the risks of what is called ‘authoritarian AI’. It argued that the political system leading the AI development will influence how the tech is used worldwide. It added, “If the frontier is set by regimes that treat AI as an instrument of repression, military advantage over democracies, and domestic control, the transition is less likely to go well.”
Why AI Chips Matter in the Global Race
Anthropic stressed that the biggest advantage in AI development comes from access to advanced computer chips, also known as ‘compute’. As per the tech giant, American firms and allied countries currently dominate the production of the world’s most advanced AI chips.
“The most important ingredient for developing AI is access to the computer chips on which the models are trained,” the company wrote.
AI Safety And National Security Concerns
The study has explained how the AI race between the US and China might push big tech and government to release systems faster without proper safety checks. Moreover, it claimed that Chinese AI models have weaker safeguards against dangerous requests that involve cyberattacks. It also criticised the release of ‘open-weight’ AI models, suggesting that once these systems are publicly available, their protections can be removed by hackers.
What lies ahead is the impact of the warning that we must acknowledge. AI has the potential to change our daily life, privacy and civil liberties. As big techs and governments increasingly adopt AI tools, the impact of the technology will eventually affect billions of people across the world.
