Artificial Intelligence, Espionage, and the Theft of Intellectual Property

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2026/10/15/the-irony-of-openai-crying-foul-over-spying     

Belen Fernandez hit an important point here - the absurdity of OpenAI complaining that others are violating its proprietary rights. The entire AI project is based on data mining others work, resources, and proprietary information in order to provide its summaries and/or generate new work.

I'm sure many websites have already taken a massive hit. At this point many people doing online searches are going to be content to rely on AI summaries in lieu of scrolling down and clicking on actual websites and having to look through them to find the answers one seeks.

In my case, I've never tried to generate advertising revenue and as such I'm not affected in terms of the bottom line. I am affected in terms of less traffic. I was already penalized by Google and other search outlets because I'm not monetized. As such their algorithms are always going to steer people to other websites anyway.

While the debate goes on over regulating these industries, the leaks and other reporting make it very clear - this entire industry is already tied in with National Security interests, which often are not about 'security' at all, but about militarism.

The titans who control these major tech-industries are quickly become oligarchs that exercise power independently of the state and yet wield considerable influence over it. Obviously Elon Musk is the most poignant example with SpaceX being tied to the Pentagon and satellite intelligence networks. There have been suggestions that Musk is playing an increasing role in geopolitics - one thinks for example of the Lithium-driven coup in Bolivia that ousted Evo Morales. And now, at the suggestion that the Democrats might control congress after the Mid-terms, and that they might investigate Musk and his role in DOGE and other government related issues - the trillionaire responds with threats. He's already pumped almost a half-billion dollars in the US mid-term. It's pocket change for him.

One is reminded of the oligarchical figures depicted in dystopian books and movies.

And indeed with the way the state and law enforcement are using things like AI, Flock cameras, facial recognition, and drones - it's starting to feel like we're on the cusp of a dystopia.
And we are. When one understands the big picture, it's all but inevitable. The stresses of population, limited resources, and the way these play out globally in terms of immigration and coming waves of refugees - the state is preparing even now for a massive clampdown on society and global war - which in turn requires secrecy and cannot be subjected to scrutiny. Factor in social media and the potential for mass organization and citizen journalism (with everyone but me it seems) carrying a video camera in their pocket. The state wants to control the information and is looking toward the tech-players that can help it wield this power.

I was fascinated recently as I tried to set up a new Gmail account. Nope. You must have a Smartphone and scan a QR code. It used to be that I could work around some of the requirements by setting up a Mail.com account, but no longer.

I once had a Google phone number but I didn't use it much and let it expire. Alas, because now to re-establish it I have to scan a photo identification card. No thank you.

And I also wanted to set up a Facebook account - not a personal one, but for a group. No, the good folks at Meta insist on scanning my face from multiple angles to make sure I'm not a bot. And I'm supposed to believe that biometric data and a little facial recognition exercise aren't going to be filed away? And what about when they have some data breach in the future. Needless to say, I quickly dumped that idea.

I've said to my wife many times that I'm sure Wal-Mart (via it's computerized camera network) connects our faces, license plates, and debit card info. I've noticed ordering things online for work that sometimes Home Depot or other stores seem to already have my address and a fair bit of my information.

And as numerous reporters and whistleblowers have already demonstrated - the US government is (via various means) also getting copies of all this data. We also know that when Bush rolled out the Total Information Awareness (TIA) programme in the wake of 9/11, the problem was the government was collecting more data than could be processed. AI solves that problem and though TIA was ostensibly cancelled we know it was simply broken up into pieces - with the said pieces proceeding to carry out the very same task.

I sincerely hope there will be a large backlash to all this at some point. If I wasn't a Christian I know what I'd be doing. This is all going to come into play in the coming years - all the more as society starts to really feel the stress.

Fernandez is right to connect this to military operations. AI is already in use and in some respects its making the battlefield robot debate obsolete. It's already moved beyond that and has been weaponized. The US is using it alongside the Israelis.

And just wait until we learn (by means of some pending scandal) that US law enforcement is using it too. And they'll already be experimenting in places abroad (like Ecuador, Colombia, or elsewhere) where they can work out the bugs and not be afraid of the courts.

The final point made by Fernandez is chilling. The world had seen genocides before the Nazi extermination of Jews during World War II. It was unique because of its industrial scale. Now imagine a genocide in the age of AI.