Exporting the Surveillance State via Trade in AI / Martin Beraja, Andrew Kao, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beraja, Martin.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Kao, Andrew.

Yang, David Y.

Yuchtman, Noam.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w31676.

NBER working paper series no. w31676

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2023.

Summary:

We document three facts about the global diffusion of surveillance AI technology, and in particular, the role played by China. First, China has a comparative advantage in this technology. It is substantially more likely to export surveillance AI than other countries, and particularly so as compared to other frontier technologies. Second, autocracies and weak democracies are more likely to import surveillance AI from China. This bias is not observed in AI imports from the US or in imports of other frontier technologies from China. Third, autocracies and weak democracies are especially more likely to import China's surveillance AI in years of domestic unrest. Such imports coincide with declines in domestic institutional quality more broadly. To the extent that China may be exporting its surveillance state via trade in AI, this can enhance and beget more autocracies abroad. This possibility challenges the view that economic integration is necessarily associated with the diffusion of liberal institutions.

Notes:

Print version record

September 2023.