Seventy-five countries out of 176 are using AI-based technology for surveillance, according to a new report from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. Of those 176 nations, 51 per cent of advanced liberal democracies deploy surveillance systems, compared to 41 per cent of autocratic states. (The Logic)

Talking point: Chinese firms are driving the widespread adoption of surveillance technologies. Huawei’s surveillance tech is present in 50 countries. Second-place Hikvision, another Chinese firm, is used in 15. Beijing subsidizes government purchases of surveillance technology, particularly in Africa, where it competes with the U.S. for influence, and in northern Asia, where it competes with Russia and the U.S. Canada uses U.S. surveillance tech for smart policing and facial recognition technology, but the Americans, along with France, Germany and Japan, are behind China as major players in the space.