Of course Larry Ellison is taking over CBS, the network whose symbol is a big eye. The Oracle billionaire doesn’t believe in elections, but he does believe in universal surveillance:
“Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that’s going on,” Ellison said, describing what he sees as the benefits from automated oversight from AI and automated alerts for when crime takes place. “We’re going to have supervision,” he continued. “Every police officer is going to be supervised at all times, and if there’s a problem, AI will report the problem and report it to the appropriate person” [Benj Edwards, “Omnipresent AI Cameras Will Ensure Good Behavior, Says Larry Ellison,” Ars Technica, 2024.09.16].
Great, Larry—so where’s our live feed from the body cams on Secret Service agents so we can keep your buddy Donald on his best behavior? Or what about the live feed from your office at Oracle and your Hawaiian island, since you are now our shadow president?
Ellison will keep and profit from all that AI surveillance data:
It’s not a stretch to say that the Austin-based corporation will want to be part of that royal “we” Ellison is so fond of using that will oversee the “citizens.” Here’s something worth noting, though: in 2022, Oracle was sued for running a “worldwide surveillance machine” which was facilitated by allegedly collecting billions of people’s personal information and pawning it off to third parties.
It settled the case in July, agreeing to pay $115 million [Frank Landymore, “Billionaire Drools That ‘Citizens Will Be on Their Best Behavior’ Under Constant AI Surveillance,” Futurism, 2024.09.16].
So remember: when you’re watching Ellison’s CBS News, CBS News is watching you.