Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is not impressed with the future Larry Ellison has in mind. On Tuesday, the Vermont senator took direct aim at the Oracle Corp (ORCL) CTO's comments about artificial intelligence, painting a dystopian picture of what happens when the world's second-richest person gets excited about surveillance tech.

When Billionaires Dream Of Watching Everyone

Sanders pulled no punches, writing that Ellison "predicts an AI surveillance state where 'we're constantly recording and reporting everything.'" His question to Americans: Is this really where we're headed? A world where billionaires can track your private communications?

In a video message, Sanders framed the stakes clearly. Will AI create "a freer, more democratic society," he asked, or will it just hand more power to "the oligarchs who control the technology?"

The Privacy Problem Gets Personal

Here's what has Sanders worried: If AI systems can access phone calls, emails, texts, and internet activity, and those systems are owned by private billionaires, what happens to democracy? It's not exactly a theoretical concern.

"How do we sustain a democracy under those conditions? How do we protect our privacy?" Sanders said in his video.

What Ellison Actually Said

The comments Sanders referenced came from Oracle's financial analyst meeting back in September 2024. Ellison was describing his vision for AI processing massive amounts of video from cameras in cars, homes, and police equipment.

"We're going to have supervision," Ellison said at the time. "Every police officer is going to be supervised at all times, and if there's a problem, AI will report that problem and report it to the appropriate person. Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that's going on."

To be fair to Ellison, he was talking about police accountability. But the "citizens will be on their best behavior" part probably didn't help his case.

Ellison, who founded Oracle and remains its largest shareholder, has a net worth of $281 billion. That makes him the second-richest person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, trailing only Elon Musk.

Timing Is Everything

Sanders' criticism lands just as Oracle prepares to report quarterly earnings Wednesday after the market close. Wall Street is expecting revenue of about $16.22 billion and earnings of $1.64 per share, according to consensus estimates.

Back in September, Oracle posted first-quarter revenue of $12.45 billion, up 9% year-over-year and just barely missing the Street's $12.46 billion consensus.

The political scrutiny adds another layer to what's already a closely watched earnings report for the cloud computing giant.