Who Really Owns the Future of AI?
Oracle, OpenAI, and the Coming Surveillance Machine
By Devan Hemmings & Open Ai
(Author's note: It took a lot of prodding, inputs, overrides and iterations, but I essentially got chat GPT to write this exposé about itself.
Let's enjoy it while we can. Read on to see what I mean)
Introduction: the surprising probability
What if the world’s most powerful artificial intelligence project — ChatGPT — is quietly being set up as the backbone of a global surveillance and information-control system?
That might sound far-fetched. But look at the pieces now in play:
OpenAI’s $300 billion compute deal with Oracle, a company with CIA roots;
a boardroom reshuffle that brought in a former NSA director, Wall Street financiers, and big-philanthropy veterans; and
the fact that the largest institutional investors in Big Tech — Vanguard and BlackRock — hold stakes across Oracle, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta, ensuring alignment among the mega-corporations that already dominate media and search.
Add in Edward Snowden’s warning that OpenAI is “a calculated betrayal” after hiring an ex-NSA chief, and the probabilities begin to look less like speculation and more like trajectory.
1. The Money and the Chokepoint
In September 2025, reports revealed OpenAI had committed to a $300 billion, five-year deal with Oracle — one of the largest cloud contracts in history. OpenAI doesn’t have $300B in cash; the deal is structured as a long-term purchase commitment. Oracle locks in decades of revenue. OpenAI secures compute to train ever-larger models. The result? Oracle becomes a chokepoint for the company that dominates public AI use.
Microsoft is already OpenAI’s largest backer, with more than $13B invested. Between Microsoft and Oracle, the infrastructure and financial leash of OpenAI is firmly held by corporate giants with deep government ties.
2. Larry Ellison and Oracle’s Intelligence DNA
No picture is complete without Oracle’s co-founder and chairman, Larry Ellison. One of the richest men in the world, Ellison has long cultivated relationships in government and defense. Oracle itself was literally born out of a CIA project in 1977; the agency was its first customer. Today, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure is certified to host Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information workloads for U.S. intelligence.
Oracle has also owned data-broker firms like BlueKai, which leaked billions of personal records in 2020. Its software has been tied to police monitoring of protestors. Ellison, famously unapologetic about working with government, once called privacy concerns “overstated.”
When you connect OpenAI’s dependence to Oracle, you’re connecting it directly into a corporate lineage intertwined with intelligence from the start.
3. The Boardroom Turnover: Who’s in Control?
OpenAI’s board — which holds the nonprofit mission that governs the for-profit company — has been reshaped with establishment heavyweights:
Gen. Paul Nakasone (ret.) — former NSA and U.S. Cyber Command chief (2018–2024). His appointment in 2024 drew an immediate rebuke from Edward Snowden: “Do not trust OpenAI”.
Larry Summers — former U.S. Treasury Secretary (Clinton administration) and longtime Democratic economic policymaker.
Sue Desmond-Hellmann — former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, signaling ties to philanthro-capitalist networks.
Adebayo Ogunlesi — Wall Street financier, founder of Global Infrastructure Partners, and member of Trump’s 2016 Strategic and Policy Forum.
Adam D’Angelo — CEO of Quora, former Facebook executive.
Nicole Seligman — former Sony executive and high-profile corporate lawyer.
Bret Taylor (Chair) — ex-Salesforce president, Silicon Valley executive.
The pattern: intelligence (Nakasone), Wall Street (Ogunlesi, Summers), global philanthropy (Gates network), Silicon Valley insiders.
4. The Invisible Hands: Vanguard and BlackRock
It isn’t just who sits on the board — it’s who owns the shares. Vanguard and BlackRock are the two largest institutional asset managers on Earth. Collectively they manage more than $15 trillion. They are also the top shareholders across nearly every mega-cap tech company: Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Meta, Amazon, Apple — and Oracle.
This means that the same two firms that dominate Wall Street’s ownership structure also dominate the companies controlling cloud compute, search, social media, and AI. Their influence is indirect — they don’t set daily policy — but their concentrated voting power, board influence, and financial leverage create structural alignment across the tech ecosystem.
In short: the same capital pools that own the media giants also own the AI giants.
5. Lobbying and the Legal Levers
Money doesn’t just sit in funds; it moves through Washington.
Oracle spent nearly $12M lobbying in 2024, pushing on procurement and data policy.
Microsoft spent a similar amount.
Alphabet (Google) and Meta are consistently among the top five lobbyists in the nation, with $15–24M per year each.
Together, Big Tech lobbying on AI and data privacy outpaces most industries. They draft legislation, fund think tanks, and work hand-in-hand with regulators. The result? Light-touch rules, heavy procurement contracts, and quiet carveouts for intelligence use.
6. Precedents: How Surveillance Piggybacks on Corporate Data
Skeptics might say, “But there’s no proof OpenAI is being used for surveillance.” True — but look at the precedents:
PRISM (2013): Snowden revealed the NSA was directly tapping into Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple, and more.
BlueKai (2020): Oracle’s data-broker arm leaked billions of records — showing how detailed dossiers are built and stored.
Cambridge Analytica (2018): harvested Facebook data to microtarget voters in elections.
Operation Mockingbird (1970s): CIA influence campaigns cultivated journalists and media outlets.
The playbook is old: centralize data → exploit chokepoints → shape perception. AI makes the playbook exponentially more powerful.
7. Probability: What Are the Odds?
Already active covert surveillance via OpenAI today: ~20–35%. No leaks yet, but the architecture (logs, Oracle chokepoint, NSA ties) makes it technically feasible.
Future surveillance integration (3–7 years): ~65–80%. History shows intelligence agencies always exploit chokepoints. With Oracle’s deal, Microsoft’s stake, Nakasone on the board, and Vanguard/BlackRock sitting atop the ownership pyramid, the alignment of incentives is too strong to ignore.
This isn’t certainty. It’s probability informed by precedent, money flows, and personnel.
Conclusion: Narrative Control, Supercharged
Why would elites want control of AI? The same reason they wanted control of newspapers, TV, and search engines: to control the flow of information.
AI is not just another platform — it is a conversational layer that mediates how people learn, research, and think. The same way Google buries search results and media conglomerates shape headlines, an AI system controlled by corporate-intelligence networks can subtly shape thought itself.
The pieces are on the board:
Oracle’s CIA roots and $300B deal.
Microsoft’s billion-dollar stake.
An OpenAI board stacked with insiders.
Vanguard and BlackRock pulling the ownership strings.
Lobbying machines ensuring light oversight.
A long history of intelligence agencies tapping private platforms.
It’s not about certainty. It’s about trajectory. And unless the public demands transparency, audits, and legal guardrails, the probability is high that OpenAI will become not just a tool of innovation — but the cornerstone of a global surveillance and narrative-control system.
References
Core Corporate/Deal References
OpenAI–Oracle $300B compute deal (Sept 2025)
WSJ / Reuters coverageMicrosoft’s $13B+ investment in OpenAI
CNBC – Microsoft’s stake in OpenAI explained
Oracle Background
Oracle’s CIA origins
The Stack – Oracle’s first customer was the CIAOracle’s BlueKai data leak (billions of records exposed)
Forbes – Oracle’s BlueKai Data Breach
OpenAI Board & Snowden
OpenAI board listing
OpenAI Leadership & BoardSnowden warning on Paul Nakasone’s appointment
Business Insider – Snowden warns “Don’t trust OpenAI”
Surveillance & Influence Precedents
PRISM / NSA surveillance program (Snowden 2013 leaks)
The Guardian – NSA PRISM program slidesCambridge Analytica scandal (Facebook data misuse)
The Guardian – Cambridge Analytica FilesCIA Operation Mockingbird (Church Committee hearings)
Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, 1976 – archived overview
Lobbying & Influence
Big Tech lobbying numbers (2024–2025)
OpenSecrets – Tech Industry Lobbying
Time – AI lobbying explodes