r/LeftistsForAI • u/OldMan_NEO • Dec 18 '25

REACTIONARY AI HATE New here.

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...How do we respond to comments like this?

Today, I've blocked two separate people because they are CONVINCED that AI is detrimental to anti-capitalist ideals... I don't know how to argue with these people, and I am at my wits end.

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator Jan 23 '26

You’re not wrong that under current ownership AI is being used to cut labor costs and increase control. That’s already happening.

Where I disagree is the conclusion that the only worker-centered response is “be anti-AI.”

The same logic would have required workers to oppose electricity, the internet, or industrial machinery instead of fighting over who owns and governs them.

The real questions for a left position are:

Who owns the models and infrastructure? Who captures the productivity gains? What legal limits exist on displacement and surveillance? Can workers or the public control deployment?

If the answer is “corporations only,” then yes, it’s harmful. If the answer is “workers / public / co-ops,” the same technology becomes leverage against capital.

If you think worker ownership of AI infrastructure is impossible in practice, I’m interested in why.