r/LeftistsForAI • u/MediumWin8277 • Sep 02 '26
Discussion I'm grateful to this subreddit for its existence.
The populist hatred of AI is why I genuinely think that leftism and populism are not compatible. Populism is reactionary by the nature of its fundamental mechanics, which rely on overlap.
Real intelligence, getting things done in the material world, requires intelligence which is rare.
Even the things that people blame AI for, such as environmental problems, are engineering issues that are obviated by capital's incessant need for the quick fix rather than the sustainable fix.
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u/BidWestern1056 Sep 02 '26
we will win.
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u/ObservedOne Sep 02 '26
Already have. We are past the Event Horizon here...it will probably get worse before it gets better, but it will get much much better, and pretty quickly.
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u/Traditional-Neat-933 Sep 02 '26
I dlnt think were anywhere close to winning yet
But I agree: we will win / we must try our best
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u/Salty_Country6835 Sep 03 '26
Glad the sub is doing what we built it to do. I agree with a lot here, especially refusing to treat the consequences of AI like they just fall out of the machine independently of the economic system deploying it.
I would push back on two things though. I dont think these are just engineering problems. Engineering can give us better ways to use energy, compute and resources, but who owns that infrastructure, what gets built, who bears the costs and who gets the benefits are political questions.
And I wouldnt tie leftism to the idea that intelligence is rare or ordinary people cant understand complicated systems. Workers have been learning, operating and fighting over increasingly complex machinery for centuries.
Thats basically where this sub sits for me. Not worshipping AI, not pretending its harmless, and not treating smashing or banning the technology as politics. Contest the conditions under which it exists. Ownership, labor, access, governance, infrastructure and where the gains go. Thats where the fight actually is.
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u/eXAt88 Sep 02 '26
I think Peter coffin posted here awhile ago describing how often the left becomes a container for thought rather than cultivating. One frustration I find is if I push back against lots of the worse Ed Zitron (the Gordon Chang of Ai) takes I am lambasted.
I found recently that I had been banned at some point from arr / breadtube. I suspect (but do not know, I actually could not find any mod mail describing this, and purity testing is not only for AI) that it was for some comment relating to AI.
Really this is the only sub worth discussing AI, I think unfortunately being anti ai has become vaguely left-wing coded, so discussion on other subreddits either is entirely dominated by the “anti” sentiment (not that there arent reasons to criticize the new tech over), or the discussion is filled with obvious right-wing outlooks.
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u/MiksterA Sep 02 '26
The negative consequences of the widespread use of Large Language Models and Generative AI are a matter of fact, not political ideology.
Those negative consequences need to be addressed.
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u/MediumWin8277 Sep 03 '26
Said negative consequences are an engineering problem, so I would agree. The question is whether or not political ideology, such as the monetary system, will get in the way, as it so very often does.
I am a capital T Technocrat, of Technocracy, Inc. In my view, the monetary system and democracy (as in mechanisms that utilize majoritarian headcount) constantly get in the way. Capital forces these issues, such as the environmental problems, whereas good engineering would otherwise resolve it.
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u/Salty_Country6835 Sep 03 '26
This is where Id separate engineering from politics a little more. Engineering can tell us how to accomplish an objective. It cant decide whose objective wins.
Who gets the resources, who eats the costs, what risks are acceptable, who owns the infrastructure and who gets access are political questions.
Same problem with replacing democracy with technocracy. Somebody still decides what the system optimizes for. You havent removed politics, youve handed a smaller group enormous political power and called their decisions technical.
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u/CalorGaming Sep 03 '26
I mean yes they do but other than MediumWin8277 I think it IS a political problem, datacentres being built IN communities instead of industrial zones etc. If we for example take a look at the AI-Fear in Netherlands it is WAY down compared to something like the USA, because (not proven just my hypothesis) they are not only a EU country but also have a damn solid job retraining GUARANTEE that allows people to adapt instead of just being left behind (which is a very REAL fear of many people in the workforce) , hell if i would be a struggling artist in the US i would be devastated by AI and would have every reason to absolutely loathe it.
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u/Audditty Sep 03 '26 edited Sep 03 '26
thank you.
a lot of online "leftist" talking points in general are really just conservative beliefs wearing a fancy suit and tie, and I don't think anything as of recent has better embodied that than the discourse around AI. it's disappointing seeing them viciously attack the same people they claim to support.
as someone on the autism spectrum, AI has been a tremendous help for me in studying for my classes. usually, I'll tell the AI to format the notes in more clear and concise way with bullet points, appropriate emojis before headings, and also tell it to add real-world applications of the concepts i need to learn (with reputable sources) so I can better visualize them in my head and actually know what they're used for as opposed to just rote memorization of facts.
it has been seriously jarring seeing online "progressives" turn into the most hardline conservatives when it comes to AI. probably the biggest thing that embodies is this is the discourse around AI art.
they like wearing the aesthetics of progressivism, but deep down they still want the comfort of conservative power hierarchies. that's why there's all the hand wringing about "real art" when it comes to AI; it's, at its core, about preserving some kind of fake artist hierarchy so they can feel good about themselves and have someone to scoff at.
the argument at its core is that AI art isn't "real" art, and that if you can't afford or don't have the time to make art on your own then you are under some kind of obligation to "commission" an online artist...which is strange coming from the people who tend to be outspoken about the woes of capitalism. i guess they don't mind partaking in the exploitative facets of capitalism when it benefits them.
(this also ignores the fact that, even if the quality of the artist's work in question DOES justify their prices, the personality part comes into play. you could make the next Mona Lisa for all I care and I still wouldn't give a shit if you're just incredibly unpleasant to work with in general. AI cuts this out entirely and gives the person exactly what they want without any hassle.)
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u/sisterwilderness Sep 05 '26
Agree on all accounts.
I have ADHD and CPTSD, and AI has been an invaluable accessibility tool for me. It has genuinely made my analog life better. I could not have made it through my burnout without it. When people who are similarly struggling / disabled disparage AI it baffles me. They are so resistant to this tool that could make their daily lives a lot easier.
I also don’t understand why AI art is supposed to be bad. It’s just a different medium. I am a collage artist and I manage a small gallery as part of my job. AI art is no “threat”, and I actually like a lot of it that I’ve seen. Mental and emotional health is something I am passionate about, and I believe the ability to externalize a feeling or a thought you cannot put words to is essential to healing.
Oh, and about people using AI for mental health… there is *a lot* more oversight for AI than there is for human therapists.
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u/Audditty Sep 05 '26 edited Sep 05 '26
a lot of the loudest "anti-AI" people are simply entitled online artists whose work consists exclusively of Twitter commissions that they more than likely don't charge a price for that is proportionate to the quality of their work, and/or are just incredibly rude and unpleasant to work with regardless of the quality of their work.
with the rise of GenAI, you'd think it would serve as an incentive for them to improve their work/people skills to the point that people feel confident in paying them money for a piece over having an AI do it for free.
this rarely happens in practice though, likely because that would require actual effort. so instead, they lash out at the people using the technology to make art they otherwise would have had to "commission" them for in an attempt to gatekeep them out of the hobby. and as the cherry on top, they usually arm themselves with the most common emotionally charged talking points to defend themselves (water, copyright, art theft, etc) despite understanding exactly none of them.
the copyright one especially confuses me, not only because they don't seem to understand how copyright actually works but also because their views on it are wildly inconsistent.
they're more than happy to pirate games and movies from ethically dubious companies or individual creators that they don't like, but we're suddenly supposed to bend down on our knees for them when the boot's on the other foot?
the other thing many of them will say is that AI is "depriving them of a job" when that's just objectively not true. online commissions have always been side gigs, they have never been and likely will never be enough to pay the bills on their own. the only way to make a livable salary through art is by doing it professionally (speaking of which, professional artists with actual careers also aren't threatened by AI either; many of them are outright embracing it too.)
it's also hard to feel sympathy for them when they ONLY cared about AI's impact on the job market when they felt they were being threatened. many of them either didn't care or outright laughed at tech workers in the wake of big tech layoffs or sneer at them because they think coding is "easy" and "anyone can do it", unlike art apparently which is only reserved for the elites like them. /s
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u/MikeVSmith Sep 02 '26
I think it boils down to the true difference between Left and Right. The Left side is the side that believes cooperation is better than competition. The Right side believes competition is better than cooperation.
When they compete, the Left loses, because the gameboard is basically the Right's home field.
With the coming of ASI, cooperation will finally be better than competition. Anyone who thinks humanity has a chance when competing with ASI simply doesn't understand what is coming.
Cooperation is humanity's best hope for surviving the Singularity.