Ancillary 9

The topic that I’ve chosen is the exploitation of the Uyghurs through the usage of Artificial Intelligence and technological advancements and the accompanying human rights violations. The potential to further society accompanying A.I. comes with its equally great potential to regress it. For upwards of four years, in spite of satellite imagery and government records, China has continued genocide against its Uyghur population. More than 1 million of the total 11.6 million Uyghurs in the region have been subject to internment camps aiming to “re-educate” those who have been identified as practicing Muslims, growing a beard, contacting foreigners, or any other factor that may label them as Uyghur. In these camps, the prisoners are subject to forced labor, mandatory female sterilization, sexual harassment and assault, and political indoctrination, among others. The remaining population of Uyghurs not in these camps is subject to increased surveillance. In 2016, the Chinese government began surveilling the Uyghurs coupled with the powers of A.I., further enabling China’s human rights violations, harassment, and detention of Uyghurs. China’s usage of face identification, location tracking, language recognition, and other data-harvesting methods have allowed Xinjiang to turn into one of China’s economic goldmines, leading many of its export industries. The surveilled population of Uyghurs is an integral cog in China’s workforce, fueling private and state-funded technological advancements. This exploitation of the Uyghur community with A.I. aided surveillance increasingly pushes the limits of responsible technology use towards dangerous authoritarianism.

I am passionate and knowledgeable on this topic as people that I personally know have been affected by this issue. I’ve not only written about this in the past, but I’ve also conducted extensive research on the topic. I’m interested in exploring it further due to the recent bill that was passed in December of 2021, limiting imports from China to those not produced with Uyghur labor. I am curious about the effects of this legislation and other sanctions on China’s treatment of the Uyghurs.