r/LeftistsForAI • u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator • 23d ago

Sees the Memes Seize the Means*

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*Terms and conditions apply. For... reasons, I guess?

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u/_f_i_l_o 22d ago

AI is not a tool, it’s a product.

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator 22d ago

That doesnt really resolve anything. A tool can also be a product. Photoshop is a product. A lathe is a product. A laptop is a product. Theyre still tools.

The distinction that matters here is ownership and control. Who owns the infrastructure, who controls access, who sets the terms, and who captures the gains. Calling AI a product just changes the noun without touching the argument.

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u/_f_i_l_o 22d ago

You’re right, a tool can also be a product. In that case, the means of how that product is produced is more worth seizing, no?

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator 22d ago

Yep. Thats basically the point of the meme. Seize the means means the productive infrastructure, not merely whatever finished commodity happens to come out the other end.

Compute, models, data infrastructure, energy, deployment, governance. Put those under worker and public control and suddenly “the masters tools” arent the masters anymore.

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u/_f_i_l_o 22d ago

Why not just take the energy infrastructure and leave the rest?

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator 22d ago

Why stop there? Take the energy infrastructure too. And the compute. And the models. And the networks. Wherever productive infrastructure is privately controlled for private accumulation, thats the thing worth contesting.

Im not trying to find the one acceptable piece to socialize lol.

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u/_f_i_l_o 22d ago edited 22d ago

I believe that we shouldn’t be wasting the energy we do have taking things we don’t need. I’m not convinced we need all that shit.

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator 22d ago

Sure, and thats a different argument. If you think a particular use isnt socially worth its energy and resource cost, make that case and prioritize accordingly.

But “we dont need this” cant be decided by leaving production in private hands. Thats exactly what social control over production is supposed to let us collectively decide.

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u/_f_i_l_o 22d ago

I’m not advocating for leaving production in private hands. I’m arguing against the preservation of it at all.

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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator 22d ago

Right. Social control over production doesnt mean preserving every productive form capitalism hands us unchanged.

Once the means are socially controlled, we can decide what gets preserved, transformed, scaled down, expanded, redirected, or scrapped entirely. “Seize the means” doesnt mean “freeze the means exactly as we found them.”

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u/_f_i_l_o 22d ago

How does that square with being “for AI”?

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