While some innovate in employing artificial intelligence to protect nature, others find in it a tool that threatens state secrets and increases international relations tension.
Recent reports have sparked widespread controversy over whether OpenAI has decided to ban users suspected of engaging in espionage or malicious activities in China and North Korea from accessing the ChatGPT platform. Leaving conspiracy theories aside, cybersecurity experts agree that threats of hacking and exploiting artificial intelligence for illegal purposes are real and transcend political borders. While some argue that this move indicates a new “tech war,” others wonder about the future of international cooperation in artificial intelligence fields.
“A disaster in the Sundarbans swamps”
Before delving into the details of the accusations and user blocks, we note an environmental incident the world witnessed on December 9, 2014, when an oil tanker collided with a cargo ship in the Sundarbans region of Bangladesh, causing a spill of over 350,000 liters of oil. Although local efforts successfully collected only 70,000 liters, the environmental impacts were catastrophic. More than 1,600 kilometers away in the Indian city of Bengaluru, former merchant navy officer D.C. Shekhar decided to invent a solution based on hydrodynamics principles, consisting of a floating barrier to collect waste without the need for boats, as it utilizes water flow to guide waste toward a “skimming” system at the river’s edge.
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“Floating barriers innovation”
Although his invention was ultimately not used to treat the oil spill in the Sundarbans, the floating barriers proved effective in several Indian cities, such as Chennai, Gorakhpur, and Thoothukudi. In 2018, this barrier helped collect approximately 22,000 tons of solid waste from the Cooum River in Chennai. Another version was also used as a floating security fence to prevent infiltration across the international border in eastern India. Figures indicate that these barriers have been deployed in more than one location, achieving varying successes in capturing debris amounting to tens of thousands of tons.
“From barriers to artificial intelligence”
Shekhar’s achievements did not stop at water barrier solutions; he founded a company named “Beta Tank Robotics” to develop hydraulic robots capable of cleaning oil tanks, refineries, and gas stations in a record time not exceeding one hour. This innovation relies on pumping oil out rather than sucking it, with Shekhar describing the traditional method as “eating ice cream through a straw,” referring to the difficulty of moving viscous liquids by suction.
“Obstacles in the path of innovation”
Among the most prominent challenges facing such innovative projects is the lack of investor confidence in scalability, especially in renewable energy projects like wave energy converters and hydro-powered boats. Shekhar also complains of bureaucracy and funding hurdles in government procurement processes, stating that if Indian institutions can pay 90% of contract values to foreign companies, why don’t they trust local companies in the same way?
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“Cooperation with the Indian space agency”
The “Alphameric” team run by Shekhar is cooperating with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to develop artificial intelligence technologies to monitor the accumulation of plastic materials in coastal water bodies, utilizing satellite data. This technology is supposed to help build a massive database to monitor the volume of plastic pollution and direct cleanup efforts.
“What does all this have to do with ChatGPT banning Chinese and North Korean users?”
Security analysts point out that the ban imposed by OpenAI on users from certain countries may be related to fears of employing artificial intelligence in cyberattacks or industrial espionage operations. Platforms like ChatGPT can be exploited to analyze big data quickly and accurately, enabling hostile entities to extract sensitive information about infrastructure or even pioneering technical research. Therefore, OpenAI sees proactive protection as an inevitable step amid escalating global competition.
Whether the motives behind banning users from ChatGPT are purely security-driven or part of an international struggle over sources of knowledge and technology, artificial intelligence remains a double-edged sword. It can be used to save the environment, as Shekhar did with his floating solutions, or to monitor countries and spy on their latest innovations. In a world where the race toward innovation is intensifying, balancing national security protection with international cooperation for artificial intelligence development becomes extremely complex.
