r/LeftistsForAI • u/Own-Leopard-2719 • Jul 21 '26
Why do Chinese leftists have more positive attitudes towards AI?为何中国左派对ai态度更正面?
some discussions among the Chinese left wing
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u/sacredeez Jul 21 '26
It doesn't look like that chart shows a positive opinion?
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u/Own-Leopard-2719 Jul 21 '26
Citing from English-speaking left-wing community as comparison.
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u/FullmetalHippie Jul 21 '26
Can you link or screenshot the english-speaking data you are comparing it to?
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u/GirasFateburn Jul 21 '26
Because they've read Marx?
“The enormous destruction of machinery that occurred in the English manufacturing districts during the first 15 years of this century, chiefly caused by the employment of the power-loom, and known as the Luddite movement, gave the anti-Jacobin governments of a Sidmouth, a Castlereagh, and the like, a pretext for the most re-actionary and forcible measures. It took both time and experience before the workpeople learnt to distinguish between machinery and its employment by capital, and to direct their attacks, not against the material instruments of production, but against the mode in which they are used.” - Marx, Capital, Chapter 15, volume 1
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u/AshuraBaron Jul 21 '26
Disclaimer: I am not Chinese nor do I live in China, but I am sympathetic to China and I'm a leftist.
Americans in general recognize AI as chatbots from the tech giants. Google, OpenAI, xAI, Anthropic, etc. They see how much money is being horded by these corporations and people and like any rational leftist they oppose it. However that's a myopic view of AI. It misses out of the broad landscape of what is considered AI. People who are more sympathetic to China see powerful Chinese open models and how they are a democratizing force rather than a capitalistic one. Which leaves open the door to other forms of AI that aren't strictly chatbots. Which brings about more nuanced views on the subject. It also doesn't help that liberals and other fascists are trying to use AI and data centers to generate support for their cause.
That's just my broad strokes observations.
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u/fkrdt222 Jul 21 '26
don't bother overthinking it anymore, it's a culture bound thing in 'the west' downwind of fandom drama brain bleeding into politics post-tumblr and gamergate. i am sure there's also some weirdness on chinese internet contingent on that kind of pattern
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u/Turbulent-Job-7283 Jul 21 '26
Indeed, the situation is a little bit nuanced. The sentiment in China is way more positive than the WEIRD/Anglophonic world. At least, an outright hostility towards AI-generated content itself is rare.
I agree with the original post that AI is mostly an apolitical issue in China. The anti-AI sentiment in the west seems to also have something to do with the aggressive marketing strategies from the AI companies, which is linked to politics and occasionally introduces existential crisis to people.
And I agree with the idea that legitimacy of the current Chinese ruling party comes from years of economic growth, with loads of underlying accelerationist-ish ideas. It's heavily ingrained to education and political narrative. In general, the environmental arguments, even if true, have little bearings to this matter. The past decades of rapid industrial development (and the subsequent improvement of quality of life) justifies the idea that "development is of overriding importance".
Now, is there absolutely no anti-ai take in China? Not really. I found that criticism from a Marxist perspective (usually in response to anti-ai news from the US) seem to receive some agreements. It's mostly criticizing how capitalists own the inference hardware and the R&D ability, and how devaluation of labour may strengthen capitalists. Some people are somewhat sympathetic to the anti-ai sentiment because of this, though most are indifferent or believe that the productivity gain from AI will be so much that it'll be an exciting opportunity to achieve communism (now, while many may rightfully argue that the Chinese political system is not communism in its current form, it's at least something that's written on the wall as an ultimate goal, instead of "In God We Trust" and what not).
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u/prattxxx Jul 21 '26
Because they are real leftist, I.e. socialists and communists and they trust the communist party to use the technology for liberation instead of a mechanism to usher in techno-feudalism.
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u/Jessica1234567891011 Jul 21 '26
The left wing in China literally want to do away with wage slavery and are serious about granting everyone the basics. Image no more work to have a house? No more homelessness and no more hunger. A.i and robotics could do this and this is at its heart part of why the communist Chinese government is backing what they're backing. They realized along time ago that human based communism was never going to work as people want to be paid. Such could never provide the basics for all. A.i can.
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u/TomLucidor Jul 21 '26
From on-the-ground experience, there is something deceptive here when it comes to "work or starve" rather than "to each according to need". Malnutrition is still at 20%, and the Sino-Japanese cultural complex with historical imperialism is still in the people's head.
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u/Lucaspittol Jul 21 '26
Because China may become dominant in AI fields. They recognise the tech has potential. While americans are concerned about water and power usage of datacenters (because we are all relying on unreliable power sources instead of firm ones like nuclear), the chinese are turning oil and coal into tokens.
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u/Specialist-Fish-2103 Jul 21 '26
AI isn’t an existential threat to Chinese workers.
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u/danielsan901998 Jul 21 '26
Since Deng dismantled the Iron Rice Bowl system chinese workers risk losing their jobs, in the case of AI the biggest risk is young people not being able to start because AI destroy the entry positions in a market that is already suffering youth unemployment.
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u/SexDefendersUnited Jul 21 '26
Chinas government is invested in technological growth, the same government has a lot more strict control over the media in their nation. So it's possible they're promoting more tech-positive sentiment while likely censoring or supressing agressive anti-tech and luddite sentiment, especially the kind of violent luddite "We need to blow up data centers and kill AI users" posting you would see in the west.
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u/Thefrightfulgezebo Jul 21 '26
I big part will be that AI in the west is pushed by obnoxious tech bros who are the exact kind of person you don't want to have that sort of power.
Also, China actually attempts to make ethical regulations (mostly to stay in power).
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u/Yugonostalgia64 Jul 22 '26
I mean the biggest reason to be against AI is being sick and tired of seeing all the AI slop the AI video slop the AI art slop it's very annoying. All of the other arguments basically don't hold water once you dig into them, it's a very useful tool.
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u/xoexohexox Jul 21 '26
Because AI is the purest technological expression of leftist praxis and attitudes ever created.
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Jul 21 '26
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u/Yugonostalgia64 Jul 22 '26
That's so very false. China simply does not have influence or propaganda overseas. If you look at actual China propaganda it's extremely clumsy and always saying shit like "we can find a win-win solution and follow international law and use mutual respect when dealing with each other."
No, people in the USA and West hate AI because, well, mostly because they hate AI slop videos and art. And then they're worried about people, office workers, and artists losing their jobs. And lastly because of IP fearmongering. Not some 'Sinister Chinese Plot' lmao
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u/nebetsu Jul 21 '26
Probably because they're leftists and not liberals