It's Time to Topple the AI Oligarchy

Whether or not we’re ushering in the singularity— the moment when technology eclipses human cognitive abilities — or are now creating the machines that will ultimately end our species, major AI companies like Palantir are already employing their tools in a number of villainous enterprises: partnering with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to help surveil and kidnap immigrants; working with the Israeli government to carry out its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza; and contracting with the Pentagon to develop AI-powered weapon targeting systems that are being put to use in Iran and other theaters of war by the U.S. military. Palantir CEO Alex Karp even released a manifesto earlier this year arguing Big Tech has a moral obligation to defend Western countries in part by building AI weapons systems, which members of Parliament in the U.K. likened to ​“a parody of a RoboCop film” and ​“the ramblings of a supervillain.”

Of course, there are plenty of other uses for generative AI systems such as chatbots, text drafting, software coding, health screening, virtual assistants and automated vehicles. But even when AI isn’t being utilized for surveillance and warfare, the corporations building the novel machinery are still functioning in an unfettered capitalist landscape without democratic guardrails. This AI oligarchy allows tech billionaires to operate with hyperscale power as the technology reshapes the contours of modern life without any public input or regulation. While billions of dollars are being poured into the industry to help prop up the U.S. economy, AI hype is snowballing inequality while further concentrating wealth in fewer and fewer hands.

Combined with the harmful footprint of AI data centers — and the potential for a dystopian future straight out of a Paul Verhoeven movie — this antidemocratic status quo helps explain why Americans are extremely perturbed by the influence of AI on society. A July poll from Athena Insights showed Americans are nearly three times more likely to be ​“very concerned” or ​“somewhat concerned” than ​“excited” about the impacts of AI, a disparity that was similar across political party affiliation.

The nervousness seems to be breaking through to some AI CEOs, who see the potential for blowback from a public that increasingly fears pronouncements of AI’s disruptive potential to effectively eliminate the entire human labor force. Palantir’s Karp recently worried aloud on CNBC: ​“It starts with the billionaires. … Every single person at this table is going to be paying a wealth tax only to punish us.”

His distress is not unwarranted. A recent poll from Impact Research shows 77% of Americans support raising taxes on billionaires, while, according to a poll from Verasight, more than two-thirds now favor seizing wealth back from AI companies in line with a plan from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to carry out such financial expropriation.

Sanders has introduced a proposal for a sovereign wealth fund that would give Americans a 50% ownership stake in major AI companies. The plan, estimated to create an initial $7 trillion reserve, would provide direct annual payments of more than $1,000 to U.S. residents, in addition to supplying seed funding for housing, healthcare and education.

Some critics on the Left have scrutinized aspects of this idea, arguing it could create a perverse incentive structure wherein what’s good for the public interest is ensnarled with demands for corporate profit, and that it may promote a type of AI nationalism that does injustice to those facing the effects of the technology around the world.

Yet the core principle of making AI actually work for the people who catalyzed its development is one worth pursuing. As Sanders explained when introducing the legislation, ​“The foundation of AI is based on the collective knowledge of humanity and the creative work of tens of millions of people. The American people must have the ability to slow it down and make sure that AI benefits humanity, not just the richest people on the planet.”

There has been plenty of clear-eyed theorizing on whether approaches ranging from nationalization to full democratization of AI could lead to a future where we can all work less and enjoy the bounties and magnificence of our lived world. Rather than being used to bomb refugee camps or spy on our neighbors, AI could be harnessed to finally bring about shorter workweeks so we can spend our time taking in the beauty of human-crafted art, dancing at the club or cooking at barbecues with friends, rather than laboring long hours on the job.

But as we work toward that horizon, so long as the technology is controlled by a superrich elite, throwing a wrench in the breakneck pace of data center construction is one clear way to channel public anger and curb the AI oligarchy’s expansionist dreams. 

Sanders and his fellow democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have introduced a bill in Congress to put a national moratorium on building new data centers, and similar legislation is moving on the local and state levels across the country. In July, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a first-inthe-nation one-year pause on data center construction, following years of dedicated organizing by grassroots activists. 

Ahead of the midterms, progressive and socialist candidates have been coalescing around a clear anti-data center message. In Michigan, newly certified Democratic nominee for Senate Abdul El-Sayed has called for public ownership of AI. Congressional contenders such as Claire Valdez in New York, Justin Pearson in Tennessee and Melat Kiros in Colorado are demanding a pause on new data centers, and Kiros’ home city of Denver recently passed its own one-year freeze. 

Kiros, whose campaign is backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), tells In These Times, ​“I think it’s becoming really evident where the lines are between the working people who are bearing the brunt of the consequences of these data centers and the advancement of this technology, and the people who are just making a really fat buck as a result of it. I think that’s also why you’re seeing such unification across party lines, across all these demographics. At the bare minimum we want some kind of say over how this technology is developing, because at best it’s going to completely disrupt our labor and energy economies, and at worst, you have literal Nobel laureates and researchers and CEOs of this technology saying it could lead to our extinction. The stakes couldn’t be higher.” 

The future of AI is still being written, and public sentiment shows a populist message, rooted in class politics, can help turn the tide against the billionaires seeking to upend our lives to bloat their fortunes. We may be in the depths of a crisis right now, but we still have the chance to turn it into an opportunity.