WASHINGTON — China’s advancements in artificial intelligence and data collection, including the rise of large language models like DeepSeek, may further tighten Beijing’s domestic control and equip authoritarian regimes worldwide with new tools to suppress dissent, a report warns.
“We live in an age of increasing data-driven authoritarianism. Artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies that collect and analyze digital data are transforming how autocrats work to stifle dissent,” according to a recent report released by the National Endowment for Democracy’s International Forum for Democratic Studies.
“Today, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) stands out for its quest to collect and leverage unprecedented types and volumes of data, from public and private sources and from within and beyond its borders, for social control,” said Valentin Weber, a senior researcher at the German Council on Foreign Relations who authored the report.
Weber reviewed four key data-centric technologies whose development could fortify Beijing’s tech-enabled efforts to control its own people and export authoritarian governance models around the world: AI surveillance applications, neuro- and immersive technologies, quantum technologies and digital currencies.
AI surveillance
China is already a global leader in AI surveillance systems, which can monitor people’s facial expressions, gaits, and speech to identify “abnormal” behaviors, helping law enforcement anticipate potential incidents.
The “City Brain” is an application of this technology, which has helped the authorities monitor public activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This technology has also been used in China’s Xinjiang region, a Uyghur autonomous region home to predominantly Muslim ethnic groups.
“If we categorize China’s surveillance regime into three stages, the first stage involves situational awareness through widespread camera deployment,” Weber said in an interview with Voice of America. “The second stage is decision support, where the system can issue alerts such as, ‘Hey, a protest is about to start,’ along with predictive policing and similar functions.”
The emergence of large language models like DeepSeek helps China enter the third stage of surveillance, Weber said.
“DeepSeek can act on behalf of the Communist Party or law enforcement, such as automatically canceling a hotel reservation made by a dissident or preventing people from protesting somewhere,” he said.
Neuro- and immersive-technologies
Immersive technology refers to devices like head-mounted virtual reality gear and smart glasses, which can be used to collect users' pupil changes and other subtle physical responses. Neurotechnology, such as implanting chips in the brain, can directly collect users' brain data.
Such technologies may not only be used to disseminate political propaganda but could also be employed during police interrogations, the report said, adding Chinese laws effectively ensure that data from such commercial technologies will be accessible to state authorities.
Quantum technologies
China is a leader in quantum computing and quantum communications, putting it in a position to benefit down the line from advances that could render present-day encryption obsolete.
“If a state were to build sufficiently powerful computers, it could theoretically decrypt large amounts of online data enough to decrypt (whether enterprise data or private communications) currently stored on large amounts of the internet and protected by encryption,” Weber said in the report.
Digital currencies
Most popular digital currencies use decentralized technology, making them not subject to government control. However, China has begun issuing its own digital currency — digital renminbi, digital yuan, or e-CNY.
Using such currency will lead to the collection of users' financial data, including usage patterns and geographic information, by the government, according to the report.
“They also make it relatively straightforward for governments to penalize what they see as bad behavior by monitoring user constricting or cutting off purchases,” it said.
Exporting data-centric authoritarianism
China is the leader when it comes to quantum technologies and would thereby be in a position to shape encryption standards and export technologies, the report said.
China has already exported a considerable amount of surveillance technologies, with Chinese firms Hikvision and Dahua Technology jointly making up roughly 34% of the global market for surveillance cameras, it said.
China is likely to export its quantum technology to Russia, and may be planning to establish a quantum communication network among the so-called BRICS countries including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the report said.
In the mid-2000s, China reportedly exported the first radio jammers to the government of Zimbabwe, which used them to intercept citizens’ communications, it said.
Today, China has become increasingly mature and widespread in exporting its surveillance technologies, offering “free trials,” subsidies that ensure Chinese companies can sell globally at low prices, and deals to cover surveillance purchases in exchange for natural resources from less affluent countries, the report said.
China also sells surveillance technologies to “swing states” — countries that borderline between democracy and autocracy — along with training that Chinese companies provide for local security personnel, it said.
“China exports AI surveillance systems to autocratic states and weak democracies disproportionately, and that such regimes are likelier to import these technologies during periods of domestic unrest and increased repression,” the report said.
Exporting technology to these countries also helps Beijing to extend its reach of transnational repression, as foreign law enforcement agencies can use Chinese technology to more efficiently monitor or capture individuals deemed undesirable by China, it said.
For example, Thailand, a country that purchases Chinese technology, frequently repatriates dissenters fleeing China, the report said.
“With every new country that takes up the tools and tactics of the Chinese repressive state, the world looks more and more like China,” it said.
Chinese consumer technologies, such as video-sharing app TikTok and all-in-one messenger and payment app WeChat, also provide opportunities for Beijing to manipulate online content and monitor foreign users, the report said, adding e-commerce platform Temu’s app was removed from the Google Play Store after it was revealed to contain malware which allowed it to read private messages and examine data from other apps.
The report suggested civil society and democratic governments to build up a technological ecosystem infused with democratic values that can serve as an alternative to China’s offerings, and engage in international standard-setting fora to counter the normalization of authoritarian digital approaches.
To read the original story in Chinese, click here.
