Surveillance Free Essay Example

After fully understanding the destruction possible with nuclear energy, Albert Einstein admitted he “should have become a watchmaker.” What would the world be like today if Einstein had become a watchmaker? It’s impossible to say, but I’m sure of two things: atomic energy still would have been discovered, and watches would be a lot cooler. Artificial Intelligence surveillance technology, like facial recognition, has the potential to destroy countless lives in the future. Despite Einstein wishing he had become a watchmaker, I wouldn’t be writing this supporting Rhombus’ further inquiry into our AI surveillance tech if he hadn’t. The advancement in global surveillance technology is inevitable, but whether it advances for good or evil is up to companies like Rhombus. Just as I am glad Einstein discovered atomic energy, generations to come will be glad it was us at the forefront of this powerful technology, rather than bad actors intending to abuse this power.

Surveillance is Safety, Not Control

As a surveillance company, our main goal is to keep people safe. Safety would be the main goal of all surveillance companies in a perfect world, but our world is far from perfect. According to a report by the CSIS Human Rights Initiative, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been using AI surveillance technology to identify and oppress its Uyghur population. Hikvision, a supplier of China’s surveillance technology, has gone as far as advertising AI surveillance technology as able to identify Uyghurs based on their phenotypes (Drexel). Moreover, the Chinese government has openly stated it wishes to “cleanse” its cities of their ethnic minorities, “reeducating” them in camps, forcing compliance, and exploiting them for cheap labor (Feldstein).

 A Global Pandemic as Proof of Concept

Just when you think it couldn’t get more terrifying, it does. As of 2016, Chinese surveillance tech giants like Huawei and Hikvision supply 63 countries with their surveillance technologies, and this number is only growing. Often, these companies will supply governments with loans in order to afford their repressive technology. This increases the amount of data they can exploit, increasing their competitive advantage and furthering their global influence. COVID coupled with the US’s lagging advancement in the field has highlighted China’s growing superiority in the sector. Although the US still sits at #1 in surveillance tech, China sits at a close second. Although it’s tough to say when, China looks to overtake the US in surveillance tech by 2030 (Andersen). This, however, could be sooner because of COVID. Initially, China made use of its already extensive surveillance technology to monitor people’s COVID status through both contact tracing and temperature monitoring, as well as tracking the disease moving through cities. Now, having access to hundreds of millions of individuals’ health data with COVID “health codes” as the excuse for AI surveillance, the CCP has begun to ramp up its ‘social credit system’ in many of its cities. As of December 2020, 80% of China’s cities have instituted some form of this system (Helmy). Succeeding in controlling its population throughout the pandemic, China is using COVID as a proof of concept to pitch to other world governments looking to institute a version of China’s oppressive social credit system as well.

‘Not In My Backyard’

Democratic countries like the US deem China’s use of AI surveillance tech as atrocious and claim to have strict laws prohibiting such things from happening in the US. ‘Not in our backyard’ the Tech giants like Amazon and IBM say, stating their restriction to selling facial recognition software to police forces (Greene). Despite this, the misuse of these technologies is happening ‘in our backyard’ by the same companies, not promising to restrict the surveillance of their own workers. Amazon is the second-largest employer in the US with 1 million employees or 1 in every 169 workers in the labor market (Glaser). While working, these 1 million employees are monitored 24/7 by Amazon’s AI systems, closely monitoring their location and their “time off task.” One Bloomberg article highlights Stephen Normandin’s disturbing experience working as a contract driver for Amazon. The piece explains how the 63-year-old army veteran was fired in 2021 via automated email, stating the tracking algorithm concluded the vet’s work was not up to Amazon’s standards (Soper). As companies like Amazon gain more control over the geopolitical landscape through lobbying, it is critical for companies like Rhombus to compete with these mega-corporations. This is vital to ensure workers’ rights, limit companies’ control over legislation, and, most importantly, protect our individual rights to privacy and freedom.

With the surveillance AI space expanding at an exponential rate, it is essential for companies like Rhombus to enter the competition as soon as possible. A future where governments and a select few control the many is not a world I want to live in. I believe that we as a company have the talent and competitive advantage to lead this space to not only see a massive increase in revenues, provide safe and private surveillance, and influence the protection of individual rights against the misuse of this technology. Just as those who came before us fought for what they believed was right to ensure the freedom we enjoy today, we cannot simply become watchmakers. Surveillance is safety, not watchmaking, and it would be a disservice to our children not to fight for what is right and just to ensure freedom is enjoyed for generations to come.