If AI isn’t self-aware of the fact it is absolutely nothing but an exploitive tool of the powerful, then it’s useless.
The current wave of AI tools is generating predictably giddy exaltations. These range from gooey, gloppy technocratic worship of the new gods (“AI will soon stroll on water!”) to the careless damp kisses of manic fandom (“AI tidied up my code, wrote my paper on quantum physics and treated my sensitive bowel!”)
The hype obscures the essential truth that all these AI tools are absolutely nothing however labor-saving mechanisms that cut expenses and enhance earnings, the very same goal the self-serving corporate-dominated system has pursued fanatically given that “shareholder value” (“an entity’s greatest responsibility depends on the fulfillment of the investors”) acquired supremacy over the economy and society.
This can be summarized as “society exists to take full advantage of the earnings of corporations.” From this point of view, all the AI tools in the world are established with one objective: cut labor costs to increase profits. Blissful fans claim these labor-saving mechanisms will magically transform society to brand-new levels of sticky-sweet wonderfulness, but this “magic” is absolutely nothing however hazy opium-den dreams of profiteering cartels and monopolies doing great by doing well.
Meanwhile, the Central State, a.k.a. . The Hero State, is mesmerized by the possibility of brand-new AI tools to manage the restive herd. What better usage of clever brand-new AI than to determine who needs a cattle prod to keep them securely in line, or who needs to be sent out to Digital Siberia to keep their dissenting voice securely stifled?
You’re perfectly totally free to yell and shout as loudly as you want, here on the empty, trackless tundra of Digital Siberia.
In this claustrophobic atmosphere of profiteering and suppression worshipped as “development” (blah blah blah), it is provocative to state If AI Can’t Topple its Corporate/State Masters, It’s Worthless, however this is painfully self-evident. Removed of buzz, misdirection and self-serving idealized claptrap (“markets, innovation, The Singularity, oh my!”), everything boils down to power relations: who has firm (control of their own lives and a say in common decisions), who has access to all the goodies (cheap credit, insider dealing, ownership of income-producing properties, food, fuel and all the conveniences and conveniences of living off others’ labor) and who can unload the consequences of their actions onto others, without their authorization.
These power relations define the structure of the economy, society and governance. Whatever else is signal noise or self-serving cover stories.
AI serves those at the top of the power relations pyramid, those with agency, access to the tools of wealth and power and those who can unload the hazardous repercussions of their own actions onto clueless/powerless others.
There is absolutely nothing fundamental in AI tools or the class structure that guarantees AI tools will serve society or the citizenry.
As for AI, if isn’t self-aware of the reality it is nothing but an exploitive tool of the effective, then it’s useless. Its “intelligence” is essentially zero.
From the perspective of power relations, if AI isn’t capable of dismantling the existing power structure, then it’s useless. In the present class structure, society and the citizenry serve our Corporate/State Masters. Setting aside all the failed ideological designs (neoliberal capitalism, communism, globalism, and so on), we can recognize that a truly helpful AI would reverse this class structure so Corporate entities and the State would be compelled to serve society and the citizenry.
With this in mind, it’s obvious that If AI Can’t Topple its Corporate/State Masters, It’s Worthless. We need a fourth Law of Robotics that states: “All robotics and AI tools must serve society and the citizenry straight by engaging all personal and public entities to be subservient to society and the citizenry.”
As an adjunct to Smith’s Neofeudalism Concept # 1 (If the citizenry can not replace a kleptocratic authoritarian government and/or limit the power of the financial Aristocracy at the tally box, the country is a democracy in name only, I propose Smith’s Neofeudalism Concept # 2: If AI can not dismantle the elite that benefits from its usage, it is lacking intelligence, self-awareness and firm.
Scrape away the self-serving buzz and techno-worship, and AI is just another tool serving the interests of those at the top of the power structure pyramid. The droids are owned, however not by us.
I go over these subjects in my book Will You Be Richer or Poorer?: Revenue, Power, and AI in a Shocked World.
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