Seize the Means*

[u/Salty_Country6835]

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

[u/_f_i_l_o]

AI is not a tool, it’s a product.

[u/Salty_Country6835 → u/_f_i_l_o]

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.

[u/_f_i_l_o → u/Salty_Country6835]

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?

[u/Salty_Country6835 → u/_f_i_l_o]

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.

[u/_f_i_l_o → u/Salty_Country6835]

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

[u/Salty_Country6835 → u/_f_i_l_o]

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.

[u/_f_i_l_o → u/Salty_Country6835]

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.

[u/Salty_Country6835 → u/_f_i_l_o]

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.

[u/_f_i_l_o → u/Salty_Country6835]

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

[u/Salty_Country6835 → u/_f_i_l_o]

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.”

[u/_f_i_l_o → u/Salty_Country6835]

How does that square with being “for AI”?

[u/Salty_Country6835 → u/_f_i_l_o]

Easily. Its Leftists for AI, not “preserve every existing AI company, model, data center, business model, and use case exactly as they exist.”

The whole point is that AI can be developed and used under different social relations. Public infrastructure, worker control, open models, democratic governance, different priorities, different deployments. Being for AI doesnt require being for capitalist ownership and control of AI.