China towards digital dictatorship: Cameras with artificial intelligence for complete monitoring and control over citizens

China's Communist Party is expanding its use of artificial intelligence to surveil and control its population, introducing new technologies that predict protests, monitor communications and even observe the emotional state of prisoners.

These findings emerge from a new report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).

The report notes that Beijing has already deployed sophisticated systems that automate censorship, increase surveillance and proactively suppress any form of dissent. Analysts say artificial intelligence has become the “backbone of authoritarian control,” allowing for mass surveillance with fewer human resources.

ASPI argues that these technologies have become significantly more sophisticated in the last two years, at a time of deepening technological rivalry between the US and China.

Nathan Attrill, co-author of the report, says artificial intelligence is enabling Beijing to monitor more people, more closely, and with less effort.

According to him, the impact is broad and deep, strengthening the Communist Party's control within the country and expanding its influence abroad through the export of surveillance technologies.

Growing surveillance: from the streets to “smart” prisons

China has one of the largest surveillance camera networks in the world, with up to 600 million cameras – about 3 for every 7 people. Many of them use facial recognition and behavioral analysis to identify crowds, track citizens’ movements and alert police to suspicious activity.

Courts are developing artificial intelligence systems that recommend arrests or sentences, while "smart" prisons monitor prisoners for emotions like anger, or use VR devices for technology-assisted therapy.

The report also describes cases where defendants can be prosecuted, tried, and sentenced through the full chain of artificial intelligence technologies – from cameras, to courtrooms, to digital prisons.

The report warns that ethnic and religious minorities, such as Uighurs and Tibetans, as well as political dissidents, may be more exposed to abuses.

Chinese companies are building large language models for minority languages, enabling deeper surveillance of their communications.

The ASPI report highlights that companies like ByteDance, Tencent, and Baidu have become leading implementers of censorship and surveillance:

ByteDance filters political content on Douyin

Tencent assigns users "risk scores" for online behavior

Baidu sells content moderation tools and has cooperated with authorities in hundreds of criminal cases.

These technologies, developed within China, are now being exported to other authoritarian countries, expanding Beijing's influence globally.

"China is moving towards national control based on artificial intelligence"

According to experts, new technologies are no longer just plans or ambitions – they are being implemented rapidly and are expected to become a national standard once the digital infrastructure is fully ready.

ASPI warns that while artificial intelligence can make life safer in some cases, in an authoritarian system it can be used for political repression and human rights violations./TheGeopost.