AI-Powered Surveillance System Will Help Keep Citizens “On Their Best Behavior,” Oracle Cofounder Says

According to Business Insider, Larry Ellison, billionaire cofounder of Oracle, said artificial intelligence will spur a new era of surveillance to ensure “citizens will be on their best behavior.”

“Ellison made the comments as he spoke to investors earlier this week during an Oracle financial analysts meeting, where he shared his thoughts on the future of AI-powered surveillance tools,” Business Insider reports.

New: Billionaire Larry Ellison says a vast AI-fueled surveillance system can ensure every citizen will be on their best behavior. pic.twitter.com/3RD8KgjOYY

— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) September 17, 2024

Per Business Insider:

Ellison said AI would be used in the future to constantly watch and analyze vast surveillance systems, like security cameras, police body cameras, doorbell cameras, and vehicle dashboard cameras.

“We’re going to have supervision,” Ellison said. “Every police officer is going to be supervised at all times, and if there’s a problem, AI will report that problem and report it to the appropriate person. Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that’s going on.”

Ellison also expects AI drones to replace police cars in high-speed chases. “You just have a drone follow the car,” Ellison said. “It’s very simple in the age of autonomous drones.” He did not say if those drones would broadcast the chases on network news.

WATCH:

Oracle’s Larry Ellison says a surveillance system of police body cams, cameras on cars and autonomous drones, all monitored by AI, will constantly record and report on police and citizens, leading everyone to be on their best behavior pic.twitter.com/RAq5XGaNmZ

— Tsarathustra (@tsarnick) September 15, 2024

“Ellison co-founded Oracle in 1977 and served as CEO until he stepped down in 2014. He currently serves as the company’s executive chairman and CTO,” ARS Technica noted.

“The best artificial intelligence (AI) requires the best data. And the best data—the data you’ve been amassing for years—resides in Oracle databases,” Oracle writes.

WATCH:

“In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization,” Wikipedia states.

“The name also drew from the codename of a 1977 Central Intelligence Agency project, which was also Oracle’s first customer,” Wikipedia noted.

Its first contract was with the CIA and its founders worked on the CIA project Oracle from which the company drew its name https://t.co/OtdVUdMWjV pic.twitter.com/m8kwXDsYV3

— 12 Ball (@BoltzmannBooty) March 9, 2024

From SFGATE in 2002:

Long before Oracle became embroiled in a controversy over selling its software in Sacramento, the Redwood City software giant was building its reputation and its business on government contracts.

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From a Central Intelligence Agency deal that launched the firm 25 years ago, to recent software contracts in Sacramento and Los Angeles, Oracle is no stranger to the halls of political power.

The CIA was not just Oracle’s first customer. Founded in May 1977, the firm’s name came from a CIA project code-named “Oracle.” Company co-founders Larry Ellison, Robert Miner and Ed Oates worked on Project Oracle at a consulting firm, before striking out on their own.

Ellison briefly became the world’s second-richest individual last week when he surpassed Jeff Bezos.

WHAT. DOES. ORACLE. DO??????? https://t.co/0LEV4iyWGf

— spor (@sporadicalia) September 16, 2024

Gizmodo noted in 2014:

Yesterday, Vox somehow managed to write an entire article about the history of Oracle and its founder Larry Ellison without mentioning the CIA even once. Which is pretty astounding, given the fact that Oracle takes its name from a 1977 CIA project codename. And that the CIA was Oracle’s first customer.

Vox simply says that Oracle was founded in “the late 1970s” and “sells a line of software products that help large and medium-sized companies manage their operations.” All of which is true! But as the article continues, it somehow ignores the fact that Oracle has always been a significant player in the national security industry. And that its founder would not have made his billions without helping to build the tools of our modern surveillance state.

“Recognizing the potential demand for a commercial database product, [Ellison] founded the company that became Oracle in 1977,” Vox writes, conspicuously omitting the whole “because CIA wanted a relational database” part of the history.

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Which isn’t to say that Oracle’s work with the US government should necessarily be frowned upon. The CIA needs databases, just like any large organization. But not mentioning just how reliant Oracle has been on government contracts since its inception is downright strange and seems to feed this narrative that Ellison simply created a product that companies wanted and private enterprise did the rest.

Oracle has pulled in billions of dollars each year working for governments at all levels for all manner of projects, the most high-profile of late being the disaster that was the Oregon health insurance exchange. But it’s the company’s philosophy behind how national security databases should work which would surprise someone who’d only read about them on Vox.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up.

View the original article here.