Exploring Silicon Valley's Engagement with Authoritarian Monarchies and Defense Sector

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Exploring the connections between Silicon Valley and authoritarian regimes, defense investments, and geopolitical influences while discussing the impact on the industry's financial strategies and key political figures within the sector.

Paris Marx is joined by Nitasha Tiku to discuss how US tech companies are flocking to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to fund their expensive AI ambitions.

Nitasha Tiku is a tech culture reporter at the Washington Post.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Read the pieces Nitasha contributed to on Silicon Valley getting funding from Saudia Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and its embrace of the US military.
Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018. There’s still be no accountability.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman met with many Silicon Valley CEOs months before Khashoggi’s murder.
The United Arab Emirates launched its own AI strategy in 2018.
The UAE also put Pegasus spyware on the phone of Khashoggi’s wife months before his murder.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was photographed signing a woman’s chest on June 4.
Many Arab Americans in Silicon Valley have reported being scared to speak out in support of Palestinians for fear of retaliation.