AI, Surveillance, and the Fight for Freedom in Authoritarian Regimes : Artificial Intelligence and Authoritarian Repression in Iran

This thesis investigates the role of AI in authoritarian repression with a case study of the Islamic Republic of Iran. While global discussions regarding AI have mainly focused on its impact on democratic societies, this study refocuses the lens, examining how autocratic governments employ AI technologies for surveillance, chill, and repress dissent. Critical analysis of the politics and practices of governments, companies, researchers, and AI development in the industrialized North and the Global South (including the politics and practices of oppression, resistance, and liberation in the latter)Inspired through frameworks well established in the Frankfurt School, the research make use of thematic analysis to conduce the collected qualitative data from in-depth interviews with AI experts and Iranian activists. The findings illustrate a complex digital repression system where AI, for instance, facial recognition, predictive policing, and algorithmic content moderation, is strategically used to consolidate authoritarian rule. They described surveillance in both online and offline spaces, algorithmic censorship on social media, and laws that enshrine repression under the pretext of protecting users. Yet under such conditions of inequality and unfreedom, the study notes various forms of resistance from below, from encrypted communications and digital literacy training to adversarial techniques for AI surveillance. The thesis maintains that AI, in authoritarian spaces such as Iran, is not a neutral tool but is an infrastructural technology laden with politics that augments power imbalances. By focusing on the lived experiences of affected communities, this work adds to the growing discussion surrounding digital authoritarianism by providing empirical insight followed by normative reflection for policymaking and research on AI governance, human rights, peace, and development.