Silicon Valley, Israel and the new AI arms race | Antony Loewenstein

What does the war look like in the age of AI?

This week on the Big Picture Podcast, we’re joined by author and investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein.

We spoke to Loewenstein early in 2024 about his best-selling book ‘The Palestine Laboratory’ - which chronicled how Israel tests high tech weapons in Gaza before exporting them to the world.

Since then, The Palestine Laboratory has been turned into a documentary with Al Jazeera, where Loewenstein travels to Mexico, Greece, India and South Africa to investigate how this technology is changing law enforcement and government surveillance around the world.

Part of his work has examined how Silicon Valley and the AI sector have fueled the rise of a new arms race, one where technology giants like Microsoft and Amazon now compete for lucrative defence contracts worth tens of billions of dollars.

These are the same companies that once promised only to use their powers for good. Google famously enshrined the words ‘Don’t Be Evil’ into their manifesto.

But what was happening behind the scenes was a different story. 

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and any guests you'd like us to have on our show. Reach us by email at mh@middleeasteye.org or find us on instagram @BigPictureMee.

You can also watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMyaP73Ho1ySj3cO0OSOHZAOgD1WTDixG