How Technology Empowers—and Imperils—Dictators

Summary

The essay, written with Seva Gunitsky and originally published in Foreign Affairs, examines how AI helps autocratic rulers monitor and replace human subordinates. It cites Margarita Simonyan's claim that some RT anchors are AI-generated and Russian Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadaev's April 2025 remark that AI "can definitely replace half of officials." It also describes China's "Zero Trust AI system," deployed across roughly 30 counties and cities to cross-reference more than 150 government databases.