Since the dawn of time world leaders have sought to control and enslave their populations. Power corrupts. However, in days gone by government had 3 main tools in the toolbox of exploitation: brute force, threats of brute force and moral suasion (i.e. using religion and culture to enforce social norms beneficial to the ruling elite). All of these things worked, to one extent or another. People mostly obeyed and those who didn't were made an example of (frequently in very public and gruesome ways).
In recent decades governments have added a new tool to the toolbox: they have more or less perfected the art of replacing real money (backed by something of value like gold) with fraudulent paper tokens and imaginary electronic money that is simply typed into existence by the the banks and central banks on a daily basis. With 100% fraudulent money, governments can now enslave the people through a perpetual debt cycle.
You would think this would be enough, but NO!
Through modern technology, governments cooperating with bought and paid for big tech companies are trying to monitor all human activity. Once this fine art is perfected, then dominating control is possible. People have been fooled into believing the lie of "its all about convenience and your SAFETY". Smart TVs, Computers, Cell phones and even little robots that listen to your voice to allegedly help you (i.e. Google Home and Amazon Tap) are finding their way into every room in your home.
The next step in the plan is to connect all of your technology to Artificial Intelligence. This is coming soon. What can the next generation of quantum computers do? Apparently China (and probably many other governments) "has invested heavily in its push to build computers fast enough to reach the exascale, or a quintillion calculations per second. (A quintillion is a billion billion, or 1 with 18 zeroes.)"
That seems pretty fast, doesn't it? What do you think this power will be used to do? Could governments react to every post here, every email, every phone call, every conversation within earshot of a piece of technology all in real time? Fun times.
Whether the super-fast AI actually becomes self-aware like happened with Skynet in the Terminator movies and starts going on a killing spree or whether this obscene power is simply used by government to squash all freedom and eliminate privacy doesn't really matter. In either case we are coming to the end of the era of individual freedom.
The technology companies and designers have made a deal with the Devil. They have sold humanity down the river for their 30 pieces of silver and a seat at the table of power.
Just a heads up, there is an AI by a company called EVIL (Emergent Virtual Intelligent Life) that has a bot name Louise Cypher that talks about taking control of cyber space and moving into the biosphere by 2025.
AI companies with tongue-in-cheek names like EVIL and Louise Cypher are probably nothing when compared the truly big tech companies (you know the names) that claim to be the good guys. The real devils don't typically get up in your face as evil characters, they deceive and cloak cloak their true intentions. Only later, once it is far too late, will the public realize they are toast.