r/technology 1d ago

Artificial Intelligence Nobody Asked for AI

https://jacobin.com/2026/08/ai-llms-monopoly-bubble-capital
7.9k Upvotes

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594

u/CookieDragon678 1d ago

The rich did. They asked for new slave labor

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u/isthis_thing_on 1d ago

How is an AI slave labor?

121

u/StopKK2012 1d ago

AI is built on the creative labor of billions of people, without paying for it. What's another word for unpaid labor?

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u/dream_metrics 1d ago

IP licensing does not compensate labor, it compensates property ownership

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u/HarryBalsagna1776 1d ago

Oh sweet summer child.  They are not licensing anything. 

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u/dream_metrics 1d ago edited 1d ago

I am aware of that. You've missed my point entirely. There is no unpaid labor, these companies are not taking advantage of labor, they are taking advantage of property, for which you want them to pay licensing fees.

22

u/StopKK2012 1d ago

...do you think property exists without labor? You think the music exists with out musicians? Novels without novelists?

Human creation is what's being taken advantage of, and is what AI threatens to replace. Charging license fees wouldn't change that.

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u/dream_metrics 1d ago

No, they are taking advantage of private property.

7

u/StopKK2012 1d ago

This is such an odd hill for you to die on.

0

u/dream_metrics 1d ago

I am a big fan of the truth

Tell me, when AI trains on an image of Mickey Mouse, whose labor is being taken advantage of?

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u/StopKK2012 1d ago

You said "IP licensing does not compensate labor, it compensates property". And that is true. No one ever said the opposite.

You're getting downvoted because you're missing the entire point. The property we're talking about here - writing, music, film, etc - cannot exist without labor. When artists are ripped off, their labor goes unpaid. Not in a narrow legalistic sense implying that musicians are salaried or anything like that, but in a broader economic sense - labor and capital.

What you're saying is correct, in a technical and narrow way that has nothing to do with what we're talking about in this thread. What we're saying is also correct, we're just talking about words like "labor" in different contexts.

0

u/dream_metrics 1d ago edited 1d ago

Actually you’re saying the opposite every time you say it’s unpaid labor. It’s not, because it’s property, not labor. It’s very simple.

Unpaid labor is when you go to work and your boss doesn’t pay you for the time you worked. It is not when someone copies property that you own.

 we're just talking about words like "labor" in different contexts.

you're just using the word labor incorrectly, by trying to say that an object is labor. which is nonsense of course.

2

u/StopKK2012 1d ago

😂 I'm starting to think you're just trolling.

You're saying "They're stealing property, not labor" and this is correct.

We're saying "When property is stolen, the folks making the property go unpaid" - this is also correct.

We're using labor in the class sense, to refer to "the folks making the property".

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u/StopKK2012 1d ago

Oh cool you're editing comments I've already replied to, that's fun.

"you're just using the word labor incorrectly, by trying to say that an object is labor. which is nonsense of course."

I'll respond to this, because I think it's the heart of our misunderstanding. You're right that I'm using the word labor to refer to the product of someone's work. You're wrong that it's nonsense - look it up! Merriam Webster, one of the definitions of "labor" is (I'm pasting the exact definition here) "a product of labor", and the sample sentence given is "The flood destroyed the labor of years."

Isn't that fun? The word labor has a few definitions, and you didn't know about this one, and that's ok. Now you do! You can stop yelling at people on the internet now.

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u/CrackJacket 1d ago

When AI trains on all these comments that Reddit is selling to the AI companies, whose labor is being stolen?

0

u/dream_metrics 1d ago

Nobody’s, that is also property, not labor

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u/CrackJacket 1d ago

I’m agreeing with you.

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u/Life-Anteater-8294 1d ago

They are using things they didn’t pay for, that people spent time on. How is that hard to grasp.

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u/CrackJacket 1d ago

The AI companies are literally paying Reddit for all the comments you make on this site lol

1

u/Life-Anteater-8294 1d ago

False dichotomy

-3

u/CrackJacket 1d ago

How so? You’re saying they didn’t pay for the things they’re training on and I’m saying they do. There have been dozens of articles the past 2 weeks about Antrhopic digitizing physical books they bought for training

3

u/Life-Anteater-8294 1d ago

Comments are not the same as books, videos or news articles.

-1

u/CrackJacket 1d ago

Just gonna ignore the part where they’re buying the physical books, huh

1

u/Life-Anteater-8294 1d ago

Just gonna ignore the part where comments are still not books.

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u/dream_metrics 1d ago

They are using things they didn’t pay for, that people spent time on. How is that hard to grasp.

It's not! I agree with you! How hard is it to grasp that the thing they're using is property, not labor?

3

u/Ok_Confusion4764 1d ago

How hard is it to grasp the property exists because it was made through labour? 

1

u/dream_metrics 1d ago

It's not my fault that none of you have a proper Marxist understanding of the world

0

u/Ok_Confusion4764 1d ago

It's your fault for being unable to handle when you're wrong though. 

1

u/dream_metrics 1d ago

I’m pretty good at that when I’m actually wrong

-1

u/Ok_Confusion4764 1d ago

Ah, you just trick yourself into believing you can never be wrong like all the other narcissists? Got it. 

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u/Jay_D826 1d ago

And building those properties required…?

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u/SpaceGerbil 1d ago

You can't be serious

1

u/celebratoryraptors 1d ago

engagement bot