Corporations are being funded for AI features for reasons other than revenue.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/09/omnipresent-ai-cameras-will-ensure-good-behavior-says-larry-ellison/
Saudi Arabia, China, & Russia fund AI venture capital for its surveillance capabilities.
https://fortune.com/2024/09/17/oracle-larry-ellison-surveillance-state-police-ai/
Despotic regimes in the Middle East are especially keen on thwarting a second Arab Spring or an overthrow.
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/6/17206358/saudi-crown-prince-visit-tech-silicon-valley
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/12/14/arab-leaders-assad-fall-syria/
Republican oil interests want to ...
1/2
2/2
... identify "loyalists" using AI generated data models.
Selling AI to oligarchies is a bonus. Cambridge Analytica & Palantir's influence in software development.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/project-2025-oracle-19654875.php
https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1pzrhyvU
AI is unpopular & a security risk, so the Big Five have resorted to including it in products using a "coercive capitalism" business model ie no way to shut it off or disable it.
https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/how-to-disable-copilot-recall-spyware/51522/
https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/11/microsoft_copilot_keyboard_shortcut/
@Npars01 Yes. So-called AI (fancy search engines that can pretend to talk) are double-edged swords, or multi-purpose devices like a hammer that can be used to drive a nail or smash a brick.
AI is also useful for tracking and analyzing the oligarchy
Unfortunately, there are strong efforts underway to thwart study of oligarchy & the malign influence campaigns that they fund.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/29/closing-the-stanford-internet-observatory-will-edge-the-us-towards-the-end-of-democracy
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_Internet_Observatory
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/12/elon-musk-mark-zuckerberg-disinformation
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/5/23/donovan-corporate-money-academic-freedom/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Donovan
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Collins_(reporter)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandy_Zadrozny
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timnit_Gebru
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/30/europe/russian-disinformation-harris-walz-us-election-intl/index.html
Goebbels would have been so envious, but..
@shuttersparks
Oligarch funding matters to Wall Street & Silicon Valley who are funding AI for its election interference & money laundering, however, you're absolutely correct, anyone can create an LLM.
Even the Russian Internet Research Agency or Chinese intelligence services or Iran's military services...
Or they can just get a data set from Meta, like Robert Mercer did with Cambridge Analytica.
Or conduct another data breach on GOP donors like AT&T and Equifax.