How the Fuck Did GPUs Become the Engines of War?
How AI, Corporations, and Surveillance Are Redefining Modern Warfare—and What It Means for Democracy
Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) aren’t just pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence—they’re fueling a new kind of war. Not the kind I grew up witnessing—towers crumbling, flags waving, boots on the ground. No, this war is fought through code, data, and the semiconductors that power them. World War III isn’t coming—it’s already here, hidden behind screens and encrypted networks, fought by corporations and governments wielding algorithms instead of missiles.
This war is about power and control—over information, over resources, and over the future. The unsettling reality is that the people who hold this power aren’t elected officials accountable to voters but corporate giants accountable only to their shareholders. For those of us who once wore the uniform, who swore oaths to defend something real and tangible, this realization feels like a betrayal. It’s not just about who holds the power but about the sense of powerlessness that comes from knowing that, even with all our experience, we couldn’t stop it if we tried.
The Real War: Rare Earth Metals and China’s Monopoly
The true battle isn’t about soldiers or missiles—it’s about rare earth metals and critical minerals, essential for producing the chips and batteries that power our most advanced technologies. China controls a staggering percentage of the global supply and processing capacity for these critical minerals. In December 2024, China imposed export controls on gallium and germanium—metals crucial for semiconductors—citing national security concerns. This move wasn’t just a flex of economic power; it was a warning.
For those of us who spent years believing in the integrity of national security, the realization that our defense systems could be paralyzed by a supply chain bottleneck is nothing short of terrifying. It makes the trillions spent on defense feel like a cruel joke. We used to believe that military strength was about tanks, ships, and planes—not about who controls the lithium or the cobalt.
What happens when its not just economic power that both governments and companies hold, but also control over what information flows, who sees it, and who gets to act on it? BlackRock, with $11.5 trillion in assets, has been accused of investing in Chinese companies that enable surveillance states. The implications are damning: U.S. money is not just passively funding Chinese growth but actively enabling China’s strategic goals—goals that include leveraging their rare earth monopoly to exert geopolitical pressure.
Ukraine: A Resource War Disguised as Defense of Democracy
Which brings us to Ukraine.
Western support for Ukraine takes on a new light when you consider what’s buried under the ground. Is it about defending democracy—or defending access to lithium? The geopolitical chessboard extends to Ukraine, Greenland, and the Arctic—regions holding vast reserves of essential minerals. Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine isn’t just about territorial ambition; it’s about controlling these resources.
When you’ve spent your career trained to see threats in the form of enemy combatants, the realization that the real threat comes from supply chain vulnerabilities feels surreal. It feels like the enemy switched the playbook while we were looking the other way. For those of us raising children in a world like this, the question isn’t just about who wins this battle but what kind of world they’ll inherit once it’s over.
Recent developments underscore that securing mineral rights in Ukraine may be driven more by strategic interests in rare earth metals than purely by the defense of democracy. Notably, the U.S. and Ukraine have been negotiating an agreement granting the U.S. access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals, essential for advanced technologies and reducing dependence on Chinese supplies. This focus on mineral access suggests that economic and strategic considerations are influencing foreign policy decisions regarding Ukraine.
If the U.S. can secure these resources first, it may stave off a complete economic collapse should China decide to cut off exports. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Control over these resources means control over the AI systems that increasingly govern everything from battlefield logistics to predictive policing and surveillance.
The Corporate-Military Complex: Who Really Controls the U.S.?
The convergence of corporate and national interests blurs the lines of power—leaving us to wonder: Who really controls the U.S. government’s agenda? Is it elected officials, or the tech giants who hold the keys to the kingdom of AI?
Elon Musk’s ventures, which include billions of dollars in U.S. Department of Defense contracts, underscore this point. When Tesla secures lithium supplies directly from mining companies, it’s not just about electric cars; it’s about ensuring access to the resources that power AI and everything else that the U.S. government relies on.
The real threat isn’t just AI—it’s who owns it. BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, collectively known as the “Big Three,” control over 88% of the most powerful U.S. companies through their majority shareholdings. Their influence extends into the tech sector, where they hold significant stakes in companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, and NVIDIA.
The Unseen Threat: Surveillance, Control, and the Death of Privacy
AI-powered by GPUs is the backbone of modern surveillance systems, from facial recognition at protests to predictive policing algorithms. Corporations like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are making billions from contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and local police departments, turning our cities into data farms and our movements into datasets.
This isn’t just about surveillance—it’s about suppressing potential threats. The fear isn’t just about being watched; it’s about the slow realization that the world you thought you understood doesn’t exist anymore. That the systems you trusted to keep you safe are the same ones turning us all into suspects. It’s about that moment of hesitation—like when I decided not to go to a protest for fear of being identified by AI, a fear that turned out to be valid when the U.S. State Department announced its “Catch and Revoke” program. The program, designed to scan news reports and social media for perceived sympathies, isn’t just about national security—it’s about silencing dissent before it can gather momentum.
The real threat isn’t just the technology itself—it’s who owns it and what they do with it. When AI systems can revoke a visa based on perceived sympathies, we have to ask: Is this really about keeping America safe, or about maintaining a narrative controlled by those who own the data and the platforms?
The Illusion of Democracy: Who Writes the Rules?
The lobbying power of tech companies makes them untouchable. As long as they control the data, they control the narrative. And if they control the narrative, they control the future. We have to ask ourselves: if AI were in the hands of our enemies, how would they use it against us? Would they use it to surveil us, to manipulate elections, to suppress dissent before it even begins?
But a darker question lingers—who, exactly, is the enemy here? Is it the adversaries we’ve been trained to see, or is it the corporations and their investors who have quietly seized control of the infrastructure that dictates what we see, hear, and believe?
For those of us who served, who believed in defending something real, the realization that our future is being auctioned off in boardrooms feels like a gut punch. It’s not just about what’s being taken—it’s about the fear that our children will grow up never knowing the freedoms we took for granted. The most unsettling realization isn’t that we’re being watched—it’s that those watching aren’t bound by the laws we swore to defend.
The only way forward is radical transparency and accountability. We need to demand that our elected officials—not corporate lobbyists—write the rules for AI and surveillance. Because if we don’t, we’re not just losing a war. We’re losing the ability to even recognize who the enemy really is.
In the end, the real war isn’t for territory or resources—it’s for truth. It’s for the right to know, to question, and to dissent without being labeled a threat. If we allow AI to become the ultimate arbiter of truth—programmed by those who profit most from controlling it—then we haven’t just lost democracy. We’ve lost the right to ask how the we got here in the first place.
If you struggle to see these connections, just ask an AI: “How the fuck did we get here?” You might be surprised by the answer, but by then it might be too late to do anything about it.
Want to learn more about how a handful of corporations control everything from the AI arms race to the rare earth minerals that power it? Discover how companies like BlackRock, Vanguard, and NVIDIA are rewriting the rules of power and influence in our world—check out this deep dive: How 10 Companies Control the World.
About the Author
I’m Alisa Sieber—a writer, veteran, and relentless question-asker, exposing the patterns of power, control, and resistance that shape our world. My work blends personal reckoning with systemic critique, challenging the narratives we’ve been told and demanding we ask harder questions.
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