Move Over, Santa: AI Can Keep Your Naughty and Nice List.

For years, we were told the great AI question would be simple:

Will artificial intelligence take our jobs?

That question is no longer theoretical. Nary a day goes by without a scathing headline of a major corporation, or even a small business, announcing layoffs and restructuring around the ‘wonders’ of artificial intelligence.

Move aside, history. There’s a new question in town.

How long before AI begins to monitor, control, and condition people to obey its whims?

That may sound exaggerated until you look at developments emerging around the world now.

Recent reporting from The New York Times has revealed that China-linked technology is allegedly exploring ways not only to move beyond traditional surveillance but also to pursue something more sinister and ambitious: using artificial intelligence to anticipate future dissent before visible opposition emerges.

According to an analysis of leaked materials, the goal was not merely to review a person’s past actions but to pursue something akin to the blockbuster film Minority Report.

The objective?

To forecast future risk by relentlessly analyzing an individual’s travel patterns, relationships, online behavior, and daily habits.

No longer is it enough to simply ask, ‘What did this person do?’ But, ‘What might this person become?’ The ‘naughty and nice’ algorithm is no longer a myth; it is an active prediction engine.

This is reminiscent of Barney Fife of Mayberry fame, who would say, “We need to nip it in the bud.”

That dictum is funny on a TV show with an overzealous deputy sheriff. But in real life, it requires a terrifying pause. History is full of governments trying to gather information, but artificial intelligence drastically lowers the cost of turning that information into a “nip it in the bud” prediction.

AI can observe, model, score, and intervene.

These are not incompetent systems. They can track and hunt with the skill of a bloodhound, see your innermost secrets like an X-ray machine, observe with the eyes of a raven, and remember your movements like the brain of an elephant.

And as algorithm-driven monitoring creeps into Western workplaces and local police forces, we must realize: this is not only a China story.

Across Europe and around the globe, the conversation is shifting.

We are no longer just talking about capability. We are talking about control.

Listen closely to the changing vocabulary. The headlines are full of terms such as governance, identity, accountability, risk categories, and enforcement.

Notice what is fading away?

Less about what the machine can do, and far more about what humans are permitted to do.

This shift does not automatically mean tyranny. But history and Scripture repeatedly warn us that power without humility becomes dangerous.

Consider the Tower of Babel. It was not condemned because humans built something impressive. It was condemned because human pride elevated it to the status of a god. And only God alone can accurately predict future behavior, not some AI wizard hiding behind a curtain.

Human institutions venture onto dangerous ground when they believe an algorithm can classify motives, forecast a conscience, or pre-assign intent.

This is not a call for panic. Not yet, anyway. But it does demand our attention.

If there’s one thing the Biden administration taught us, it’s that technology can be weaponized to control behavior, monitor what people say and how they act, and act as a dictatorial enforcer.

The biggest tech signal right now is not the arrival of some futuristic Super-AI. It is something much quieter, unfolding right before our eyes. Artificial intelligence is becoming less about helping humans think and much more about helping institutions govern human behavior.

That shift should make all of us pause. We do not need to fear technology. But we must never surrender our God-given rights to it.

AUTHOR

Martin Mawyer is the founder of the Digital Intelligence Project and the President of Christian Action Network. He is the host of the “Shout Out Patriots” podcast, and author of When Evil Stops Hiding. For more action alerts, cultural commentary, and real-world campaigns defending faith, family, and freedom, subscribe to Patriot Majority Report.

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