The Age of AI documentary by Frontline PBS was one of the most eye-opening and terrifying documentaries which I have ever seen. The documentary covers the age of technology which we live in, and shows just how harmful it can be. While I am already distrusting of the government and big tech, the content of this documentary shocked me.
The scariest part of the documentary in my opinion was by far the way that AI and advanced tech is being used in China. During one part of the documentary, it says that AI may be an even greater tool for authoritarian governments than democratic ones. It showed footage of the 24/7 surveillance of citizens in certain cities, complete with facial recognitions and profiles. People who speak poorly of the government are punished, and could be placed on a red flag list if they are even suspected of not being supportive of the government.
In the United States, this issue is not that dire. Or, if it is, we do not yet know it. Whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden certainly planted a seed of doubt in the mind of many Americans. Snowden released highly classified documents which detailed the fact that the government was using highly illegal wiretaps to listen in on the phone conversations of ordinary Americans. He was immediately deemed a security threat by the American government and we was forced to seek political asylum in Russia, where resides to this day.
This story begs the question, what else is the US government doing with technology that the ordinary citizen does not know about? We already witnessed the horrifying reality which many Chinese citizens face; would it be possible for our government to do the same thing?
It is very possible to use this surveillance technology in a manner which helps Americans, however. This type of technology is used to vet people flying in airports, as well as people in attendance during the president's speeches. If there is a perceived threat in the crowd, it is dealt with. However, despite this, I believe that this type of surveillance is an extremely slippery slope which we cannot afford to slip down.
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