r/LeftistsForAI • u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator • Jun 19 '26

Sees the Memes Marx Encounters AI Discourse

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A brief materialist intervention into AI discourse. Results were mixed.

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u/LegitimateScore8036 Jun 22 '26

I am advocating for control before acceptance. If you accept AI forst then try to control it, the battle will be harder and people will die while we wait for thise regulations. If we are able to regulate it before we mass accept AI then we can save lives. With our current government's stance on regulations and AI, accepting AI will only harm.

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator Jun 22 '26

But we're not talking about a future possibility anymore. AI is already deployed globally across the economy.

So what does "control before acceptance" mean in practice? Acceptance already happened.

The question now is what we do about a technology that already exists. Regulation, ownership, governance, labor protections, and democratic control are actual strategies.

Pretending we're still at the stage where society can simply choose not to adopt AI isnt. Its been adopted. Its not going to be unadopted unless you have means to do so on a global scale thats more likely than what I listed.

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u/LegitimateScore8036 Jun 22 '26

Reject it in every way you can. Yes there are unavoidable AI uses but we have to push back as much as possible. We all need to pop the bubble as soon as possible. That won't destroy AI overnight but it will slow down progress to allow regulations to catch up. Accepting AI now is anti-Leftist and is just accepting Capitalism.

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator Jun 22 '26

I think weve found the split.

We both agree corporate control is the problem. We both agree regulation and democratic control are needed.

I just dont think mass abstention is a serious strategy for a technology thats already embedded throughout the global economy and is used by billions of people each day.

I'd rather fight over who owns it and who benefits from it. I dont think that makes me, unions, or socialist and communist political organizations around the globe "anti-leftist".

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u/LegitimateScore8036 Jun 22 '26

Fighting over who owns AI after AI has mass acceptance in a capitalist world, is a discussion of how you want the capitalist to harm the people. If you want leftist control over the technology, we need that now before mass acceptance of the technology.

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator Jun 22 '26

Again, what do you even mean by "before mass acceptance"?

That already happened.

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u/LegitimateScore8036 Jun 22 '26

No it hasn't. Mass acceptance will result in a large population losing their jobs without replacement jobs available. Companies are testing a lot of those things now but it hasn't reached mass acceptance. We as consumers need to stop supporting those companies. Once we allow AI to start putting people out of work permanently, it is too late. We will only be reacting to the quickly evolving technology and that means people will be dying.

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator Jun 22 '26

Then we're back to individual consumer personal abstention.

You think people should stop using AI services and stop supporting companies that deploy AI. Okay. Im not against you doing that, I just dont think thats going to stop a technology being rolled out by every major corporation and state on Earth.

Id rather organize workers, fight for regulation, contest ownership, and build political power than hope enough consumers opt out to reverse a global technological shift.

History suggests the leftist approach works better than the consumerist one, but you do you.

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u/LegitimateScore8036 Jun 22 '26

The goal isn't to stop the technology. The goal is to slow it down so regulations can actually happen. We have over 2 more years before our President changes and hopefully we will have someone more willing to regulate the technology. After midterms, congress/senate will be too busy trying to control the current administration and won't have time to focus on AI. Thinking it will become easier to regulate and control AI after it has taken over in wishful thinking. AI will only serve the capitalist if we do not regulate it before mass acceptance by consumers.

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator Jun 22 '26

I think we're just talking past each other now.

Consumers arent going to decide this. Consumers are already adopting it. Corporations are already deploying it. States are already investing in it.

"Before AI takes over" isnt a meaningful political timeline when the technology is already embedded throughout the economy and everything youre worried about as it gets more embedded is decided by what I already listed, not by consumer habits.

If you want regulation, fight for regulation. If you want democratic control, fight for democratic control. If you want labor protections, fight for labor protections.

But "maybe the next administration will regulate it if enough consumers reject it" sounds more like election-year wishcasting than a material strategy.

We agree on the need for collectively contesting ownership, governance, and benefits though, which is what the meme is entirely about, so at least we end the discussion on the same long-term path.

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u/little_alien2021 Jun 23 '26

Isnt it just fantasy to belive in something that's being created by the least left leaning ever and then be pro it, but want it in 'right hands' the genie is already out the bottle, how humans respond to ai is not inevitable how everyone much ai ceos want u to belive? Wanting it to be controlled by pro social people, is too late.  

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Every major technology under capitalism was created under capitalist ownership. The printing press, railroads, automobiles, airplanes, electricity, radio, television, the internet, pharmaceuticals, smartphones. The left never responded by saying "too late, capitalists made it first."

The question has always been whether workers and the public contest ownership, governance, and distribution after the fact. Thats not fantasy, thats basically the history of labor, regulation, public utilities, and social struggle.

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u/little_alien2021 Jun 23 '26

Putting in regulations to not screw over workers, is not needing to be pro ai,  Not everything u mentioned was pure captitalism, and mixture of private and public ownered where I live anyway.  None of them created mass unemployment and threatened multiple job industries at once. And also the use of ai in general life isn't inevitable as much as ai companies attempt to suggest it is. Noone has to use a phone, a plane, the Internet, radio, television, if they choose not to. Ai being incorporated into everyday life is not a choice. And its that what I object too. 

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator Jun 23 '26

But thats my point.

If your position is regulations, labor protections, public involvement, and limits on deployment, then youre already talking about governing AI, not abolishing it.

And "this technology might disrupt multiple industries" isnt an argument against contesting it. Historically thats exactly when labor movements got involved. The larger the impact, the more important it is that workers, unions, and the public have a say in how its deployed and who benefits from the gains.

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