In China today, AI can censor a million online posts in less than a second and generate convincing propaganda at a keystroke. At the latest in the China Salon series of events hosted by the National Endowment for Democracy, experts warned that this fusion of artificial intelligence and authoritarian governance is redefining censorship, surveillance, and state control—not only within China’s borders, but across the world.
Moderated by Beth Kerley with NED’s International Forum for Democratic Studies, the conversation brought together:
- Xiao Qiang, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, China Digital Times, research scientist at UC Berkeley School of Information.
- David Lin, Senior Fellow for Emerging Technologies, Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), focusing on the intersection of national security and technology.
Watch the event recording here.
From Childhood Silence to Global Advocacy
For Xiao Qiang, founder of China Digital Times, the struggle against censorship is personal. He recalled a family gathering during the Cultural Revolution when his grandmother said she had nowhere to live because of the political upheaval — and his parents immediately silenced her, fearing punishment.
That early experience revealed to him how authoritarian systems condition people to police their own speech. It still drives his work today: “China Digital Times is trying to make the invisible visible, to amplify suppressed voices . . . and to expose the manipulation the Chinese Communist Party imposes on its people.”
Weaponizing AI for “State Control at Machine Speed”
Xiao and fellow panelist David Lin of the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) described how the CCP’s decades of censorship experience have made it uniquely prepared to bend artificial intelligence to authoritarian ends.
China’s large language models (LLMs) are trained on “poisoned” datasets that omit politically sensitive topics and seamlessly embed propaganda. The result isn’t just suppression, it’s generative censorship: AI that proactively produces the narratives the state wants.
Lin underscored just how effective Beijing had become at controlling a decentralized, global, and open internet. He noted that the CCP had accomplished what was once thought impossible during the internet’s early days: “Today, China has done a remarkable job nailing Jello to the wall.” And AI, he warned, is taking the CCP’s digital authoritarian project even further:
- Integrating AI into surveillance systems — for instance, enabling facial, voice, and even gait recognition.
- Embedding censorship up and down the tech stack — from chatbots to autonomous vehicles and robotics.
- Turning control into an everyday, ambient condition.
The ultimate goal, as Xiao explained, is nothing short of “state control at machine speed.”
“Semantic Sovereignty” and its Extension Outside of China
The CCP’s intention, Xiao argued, is “semantic sovereignty” — controlling not only information, but the very meaning of language.
China’s philosophy is being exported worldwide through the Digital Silk Road, which has already brought PRC-built surveillance and censorship technologies to over 80 countries. These systems are designed from the outset to manage public opinion, not serve the public. Ultimately their adoption by other governments threatens the freedoms of speech and privacy around the globe.
China’s authoritarian practices also reach beyond PRC borders in other ways: For instance, AI-generated content from the PRC increasingly populates the global internet. Through this content, the CCP’s censorship and propaganda guidelines influence even non-PRC AI models. Over time, this can distort global perceptions about China and other sensitive topics.
The CCP’s Tactical Flexibility with the Great Firewall
The speakers noted that Beijing’s control is not absolute, but strategic and adaptive. VPNs, for example, often work in China — until politically sensitive moments, when access is cut off. Many VPNs now operating in China are state-compromised, giving authorities visibility into users’ activity.
This tactical flexibility also applies to AI: the CCP allows some “anomalies” to slip through when it serves state interests, while steadily refining systems to close gaps.
Exporting Repression Through Technical Standards
Beyond the technology itself, Beijing is working to influence international technical standards in ways that normalize censorship and surveillance. This, combined with its competitive pricing and manufacturing dominance, makes PRC tech appealing to authoritarian-leaning governments worldwide — deepening both domestic repression and foreign dependency on Chinese infrastructure.
Read more from NED on China’s Global Challenge to Technology Norms and Standards here.
Fighting Back Against Digital Authoritarianism
Given these challenges, how can civic actors push back on digital authoritarianism? Speakers offered a range of strategies:
- Inside China: Build trusted, secure networks among activists; preserve resilience under the threat of constant surveillance.
- Outside China: Use open-source intelligence to monitor and expose authoritarian AI. Help people in restricted environments expand access to information free from CCP-influenced censorship.
- Globally: Develop appealing, rights-protective tech alternatives — not just prohibitions. Authoritarian models need to be countered with a positive and democratic vision of what technology can offer.
Xiao also issued a moral challenge to technologists contributing to the CCP’s censorship regime: “Your names will be in history for the expertise you contribute. Do you really want to carry that moral burden?”
The Enduring Power of Freedom in the Age of AI
If authoritarian models prevail, censorship could become invisible, frictionless, and global. The “age of AI” is fundamentally reshaping the relationship between citizens and their governments — yet technology alone cannot extinguish the human drive for truth.
As Xiao reminded the audience, people’s desire for freedom transcends any particular era or tool of control. That desire fuels the creativity of activists building trusted networks under surveillance, the resolve of journalists who “make the invisible visible,” and the collaboration of technologists working to embed democratic values into the next generation of AI.
“Times change fast,” Xiao observed. “But still, democracy remains the calling of our time.” In that calling lies both the challenge and the opportunity: to shape the tools of the future so they serve the open, dignified, and connected societies people everywhere continue to seek.
Learn more:
- NED Impact Report: China and Countering the CCP’s Global Efforts to Undermine Freedom
- Op-ed: NED Chairman Peter Roskam in Newsmax: Halt Communist Censorship Before It Reaches U.S. Shores
- Forum Report: Data-Centric Authoritarianism: How China’s Development of Frontier Technologies Could Globalize Repression
- SCSP: Learn more about the Special Competitive Studies Project and the work of David Lin and others on staff
- China Digital Times: Read and engage with CDT’s work ensuring that censored stories in China come to light
