A Chinese technology company is developing artificial intelligence-powered surveillance tools designed to identify individuals who could potentially pose political risks to the government, according to research by Vanderbilt University based on leaked corporate documents, New York Times reported. The company, Geedge Networks, is known for selling network monitoring and censorship technology similar to the systems underpinning China’s “Great Firewall.” Researchers say the firm is now working on next-generation products that combine location data, telecommunications records and internet activity with AI models to assess whether individuals could become future critics of the state. The findings, first reported by NYT, are based on a trove of roughly 100,000 internal documents that surfaced last year. Vanderbilt researchers said the material indicated Geedge was attempting to build behavioural profiles of citizens and use AI to flag those who may be considered politically sensitive.

Full report : Leaked documents suggested a Chinese surveillance firm is exploring AI tools to identify potential critics before they publicly dissent, while US chip curbs may have slowed development.