Elevator Pitch

• OpenAI’s partnership to build AI supercomputers in the UAE, promoted as advancing “democratic values,” is a disingenuous move that ultimately empowers an autocratic regime and raises serious concerns about who benefits from powerful AI technology.

Key Takeaways

• The UAE, despite being labeled a partner in “democratic AI,” is an authoritarian state with a poor human rights record and little genuine political freedom.
• OpenAI’s public justification—that spreading American AI spreads democracy, or that U.S. dominance in AI is inherently pro-democracy—fails to address the reality that this deal strengthens an autocratic government’s power.
• The rhetoric around “democratic values” masks the practical effect: providing advanced AI infrastructure to a regime that systematically suppresses civil liberties.

Most Memorable Aspects

• The UAE’s extremely low Freedom House score and detailed examples of repression and censorship.
• OpenAI’s vague and contradictory claims about “enabling” ChatGPT nationwide in the UAE.
• The stark contrast between OpenAI’s mission-driven rhetoric and the real-world implications of their actions.

Direct Quotes

• “This is a significant power boost for the UAE’s autocratic government.”
• “Trying to pitch Stargate UAE as a democratic project gives us a window into how unseriously OpenAI is treating these challenges.”
• “Building increasingly advanced AI in a way that doesn't widen existing power gaps, entrench autocracies, and disempower regular people is a civilizational-scale open question.”