China and the United States have spent years locked in fierce competition across nearly every front of artificial intelligence, and Western critics have repeatedly warned that Chinese AI systems, now rivaling American technology in capability, carry serious risks for other countries that adopt them, from national security exposure to digital surveillance overreach. Despite that criticism, Beijing continues to use its state influence to push the technology abroad. This week, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a prominent Australian think tank, published a report warning that Venezuela is on track to rapidly acquire Chinese AI surveillance tools, after Caracas signed an agreement to purchase the systems, with officials signaling plans to fold the technology into the country's existing surveillance apparatus.
Why Chinese AI Surveillance Is Considered So Risky
The report, co-authored by several ASPI analysts alongside outside experts, states that the Chinese government is widely recognized as a global leader in deploying AI systems, including large language models, in ways designed to deepen surveillance and repression at home. "These findings sound an alarm bell for a critical inflection point in Venezuela's trajectory," the report says. Although Venezuela has installed Delcy Rodríguez, a former head of the country's intelligence agency, as acting president, the report finds that under her leadership the government "has neither loosened its surveillance regime nor dismantled its surveillance apparatus."
The report notes that under the earlier authoritarian rule of former president Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela had already become one of the most advanced adopters of Chinese-made surveillance technology in the Western Hemisphere, weaving digital surveillance tools deeply into the country's day-to-day governance.
According to the report, in the months before Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in January 2026, the Venezuelan government signed an agreement to adopt a Chinese-made artificial intelligence system. That deal was led by Rodríguez, who at the time served as Maduro's vice president, a detail the report says shows Venezuela's clear intent to lean on Chinese AI technology to reinforce its existing state surveillance systems.
Is There Still Room To Change Course
The report warns that if Venezuela continues down this path, and it has so far given no indication it plans to abandon the effort, the country will become one of the first states outside China itself to adopt Beijing's newer generation of LLM-based AI surveillance systems, making it the most advanced adopter of the technology anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. "Venezuela is now positioned to upgrade its surveillance technology," the report states.
The report finds that Venezuela's legal and institutional framework is already structured to support this shift, and that senior Venezuelan political figures have publicly framed the move as serving two purposes at once, strengthening domestic surveillance while also countering what they describe as Western "cognitive warfare" weapons. The report also lays out in detail how Chinese AI technology could enhance Venezuela's existing surveillance systems and integrate more tightly with them.
The report closes with a call to action, arguing that it is still "not too late" to stop Chinese-enabled surveillance technology from becoming further entrenched in Venezuela.
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