- A new report has warned that efforts to install Chinese AI within Venezuela's surveillance network could still go ahead
- The plans were drawn up before former-President Nicolás Maduro was ousted by the US
- Report warns there has been no shift in policy, and calls on the US to take action
When the United States decided to oust and capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a daring nighttime operation, the capital of Caracas was turned to complete darkness as the United States Cyber Command allegedly knocked power generation offline.
But this goes beyond giving US troops favorable conditions to infiltrate Maduro's compound. Since coming to power in 2013, Maduro had been building a huge surveillance network to help keep an eye on and - if necessary - quell opposition. A surveillance network that could capture the whole operation on tape.
But as a President at odds with the US, Maduro sourced much of the surveillance tech from China with future plans to integrate banned Chinese AI systems into the network. While Venezuela may have changed allegiances, a new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has warned that the implementation of Chinese AI could still go ahead.
Venezuela looks to integrate Chinese AI into surveillance infrastructure
ASPI’s latest report, titled ‘Warning signals: Venezuela and the risk of Chinese AI-enabled digital authoritarianism’ [PDF], warns that before the ousting of Maduro, then Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez sought to sign “an agreement to adopt Chinese-built AI systems … to use Chinese AI to enhance existing state-sponsored surveillance.”
Following the operation to remove Maduro, Rodríguez was installed as the Venezuelan President just two days after. But since then ASPI warns that there has been nothing to signal a change in direction from Rodríguez’s plans, meaning that the US could be heading a nation filled with Chinese AI-assisted surveillance tech.
“Venezuela will become one of the first countries outside China to import China’s new generation of LLM-based AI systems for surveillance and control, and the most advanced adopter in the Western Hemisphere,” the report states.
In the immediate aftermath of the likely fixed 2024 Venezuelan presidential elections, protesters and dissidents were identified online and subsequently monitored using video and drone surveillance. Numerous protest leaders disappeared, likely captured by the authorities for their activities.
Plans to adopt Chinese AI technologies as part of Venezuela’s surveillance network would likely enable the state to continue repressing opposition. “Chinese or other AI tools could strengthen a domestically directed apparatus already used to manage dissent, restrict information and preserve political power,” the report says.
One of the companies looking to provide its technology for use in Venezuela is iFlytek. The US held iFlytek as a responsible party during China’s attempts to round up and detain the Uyghur Muslim in the Xinjiang region, and banned the sale of the company’s products in the US in 2019.
Moving Venezuela away from China
The ASPI report calls upon US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to spearhead efforts to dismantle the surveillance network and prevent the import of Chinese AI systems into Venezuela’s apparatus.
“China’s leaders appear to understand that assets and investments of its national champions are at risk in Venezuela. Beijing’s approach seems to be, in part, strengthening oversight of state-owned assets abroad to assist in risk protection and management,” the report states.
The report states that dismantling Venezuela’s surveillance infrastructure would align efforts to combat Chinese surveillance tech, and encourage others to dismantle mass-surveillance systems. The dismantling of Venezuela’s surveillance infrastructure would also help position the US’s image as a liberator, rather than just a new face of an old regime.
But the slight irony therein is juxtaposed with the US’s own current surveillance woes, especially in the wake of opposition to Flock camera systems, and AI companies refusing to provide government access to their models for domestic surveillance purposes.
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