Will Big AI Draw a Red Line on Mass Surveillance of the Iranian People?
Trump and AIPAC have dragged the American people into yet another war we never asked for — one that Israel has been pushing for decades. This war will devastate the lives of tens of millions of people across Iran and the region, many of whom are in the midst of observing Ramadan, all while lining the pockets of Big Tech, Big Oil, and military contractors.
U.S. tech corporations are directly complicit in Trump and Netanyahu’s illegal and immoral war on Iran — from defense contractor Anthropic to ICE contractor Palantir and beyond.
This week, many applauded Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei for responding to internal pressure and refusing to support mass surveillance of U.S. citizens. We demand he goes further.
Anthropic and every major tech company must refuse to support the Department of Defense’s efforts to conduct mass surveillance & autonomous lethal weapons anywhere in the world. Engineers across Silicon Valley have a moral and professional duty to refuse to build the algorithms that enable this unjust war.
Make no mistake: this is a bipartisan failure. Democratic leaders who enabled and emboldened Netanyahu in Gaza helped pave the road to this moment. Every Democrat who has taken money from AIPAC shares culpability for where we now find ourselves. This did not begin with Trump, and it will not end without accountability across party lines.
The people in Iran and across the region deserve to live free from US and Israel’s wars and from authoritarianism. It is the only way for justice and dignity for all to prevail.
Onwards,
Saqib Bhatti