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According to a special report by the BBC, Microsoft president Brad Smith is warning lawmakers to protect society against artificial intelligence (AI). He claims it will be “difficult to catch up” with the snowballing effect of technology. And the nightmare of George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 could still become a reality.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using AI to monitor everything, including its citizens. Some international experts believe that China’s dominance in AI technology could threaten democracy.

In the wrong hands, AI technology could be dangerous. Actually, any technology in the wrong hands can have a Darkside.

“I’m constantly reminded of George Orwell’s lessons in his book 1984. You know the fundamental story…was about a government who could see everything that everyone did and hear everything that everyone said all the time,” Smith says.

“Well, that didn’t come to pass in 1984, but if we’re not careful that could come to pass in 2024.”

China shows shades of 1984

Smith says that in China there are already signs of trouble. China is working on rapidly increasing all forms of AI technology. And trying to become the world’s leader.

In 2019, China beat the US  by securing the largest number of patents for innovation in AI tech. And currently, more than half of the world’s 770 million CCTV cameras are located in China. Facial recognition software is used extensively in China to arrest dissidents.

Dr. Eric Schmidt, an ex-Google chief executive now serves as chair of the US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. He has also been warning that it is important that the U.S. beat China in AI.

“We’re in a geo-political strategic conflict with China,” Schmidt says. “The way to win is to marshal our resources together to have national and global strategies for the democracies to win in AI. If we don’t, we’ll be looking at a future where other values will be imposed on us.”

Project Maven goes public

In 2016, while still employed, as the chairman of Alphabet, Google’s parent company Dr. Schmidt became an adviser to the Pentagon. Since then, Google has been working on a variety of contracts with the Pentagon. 

Project Maven was one of those projects. It developed technology that uses machine learning to recognize people and objects in videos from drones.

“Maven at the time was…a way of replacing human eyes by an automatic vision for the drone footage that was being used in the various Arab conflicts,” Dr. Schmidt said. “I viewed the use of that technology as a net positive for national security and a good partnership for Google.”