Exporting Surveillance: Tech Companies and Export of Surveillance Technology

Abstract

This case study examines how U.S.-based technology firms, particularly IBM, have exported AI surveillance systems to authoritarian regimes, focusing on Saudi Arabia as a key example. Beginning in the 1980s and intensifying in the 2020s–2030s, IBM partnered with Saudi officials to develop “safe city” platforms, facial recognition infrastructure, predictive policing tools, and the controversial “Golden Shield” surveillance program. While framed as efforts to modernize infrastructure and promote public safety, these technologies were used to target marginalized communities—especially Shi’a Muslims—and suppress dissent. The case explores how AI surveillance dramatically expands governments’ monitoring capabilities, often without meaningful safeguards or accountability. It also considers the geopolitical consequences of U.S. tech companies aiding regimes with poor human rights records, raising critical questions about privacy, democracy, corporate ethics, and international regulation. As surveillance tools become more advanced and globally integrated, this case compels reflection on how free trade, national interest, and global governance collide in the age of AI, and whether democratic nations bear responsibility for the tools they export.