The AI Gold Rush Is Cover for a Class War

6 months ago

The AI boom is being used by tech giants to mount an assault on labor, despite low official unemployment, with wage growth slowing and job creation weakening.
Layoffs in the tech industry have increased by 36% from last year, affecting both startups and larger companies like Microsoft, Google, and Meta.
Mainstream explanations blame AI for job cuts, but skepticism exists; studies suggest AI's economic impact remains speculative and modest.
Rising interest rates post-2022 have forced overleveraged firms to cut spending, though this only partially explains the layoffs.
AI investments are dominated by cash-rich incumbents like Meta and Microsoft, not debt-ridden startups, with massive infrastructure projects funded through complex financial mechanisms.
The AI economy operates in a closed loop of mutually dependent monopolies, where returns come from controlling platforms and data rather than productivity gains.
Layoffs are a strategic choice to restructure contracts and weaken labor, not driven by financial strain or genuine automation pressures.
Companies use AI to rewrite the social contract, laying off employees and rehiring them at lower wages, intensifying workloads, and normalizing job insecurity.
Unions must challenge AI-driven reorganization by focusing on compensation, job security, data rights, and working conditions.
Countering Big Tech requires reclaiming democratic control over AI, as the state supports these companies through subsidies and permissive regulation.

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