Automation and AI are designed to eliminate laborers rather than liberate them.

Evidence

As Ranabir Sammadar argues, “For capital this is the desirable history of labour—labour at work but not visible, ready at hand but not always necessary, labour living but, whenever required, soon dead.” The last part of the quote might sound like an exaggeration, except when we begin to consider the role of automation. The prediction that technology would bring about the end of unfulfilling labor does not seem to be unfolding according to the hopes of economists. Automation and AI technologies, which many corporations in the social quantification sector actively develop and promote, seem to be designed to eliminate laborers, not liberate them. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 239

As Ranabir Sammadar argues, “For capital this is the desirable history of labour—labour at work but not visible, ready at hand but not always necessary, labour living but, whenever required, soon dead.” The last part of the quote might sound like an exaggeration, except when we begin to consider the role of automation. The prediction that technology would bring about the end of unfulfilling labor does not seem to be unfolding according to the hopes of economists. Automation and AI technologies, which many corporations in the social quantification sector actively develop and promote, seem to be designed to eliminate laborers, not liberate them. Given the investment in AI of companies such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, Scott Galloway argues they should be referred to as job destroyers, not job creators. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 239

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the labor-process debate and critiques of ‘technological unemployment’ optimism; parallels the reader’s library on sacrifice where disposable labor parallels expendable human lives. — connects to: AI reduces job quality by devaluing human labor. — Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna, The AI Con- How to Fight Big Tech’s…, 126; Replacing skilled labor with AI can result in harm, not benefit. — Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna, The AI Con- How to Fight Big Tech’s…, 168; Full automation is incompatible with capitalist private exploitation of labor — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 197 (+2 more)
• DEFINE: Sammadar’s ‘desirable history of labour’ crisply names the ideal labor form for capital: present, invisible, dispensable.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 239

Broader Connections

• AI reduces job quality by devaluing human labor. #corroborates (0.90) — Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna, The AI Con- How to Fight Big Tech’s…, 126
• Generative AI threatened to devalue the very concept of labor #corroborates (0.90)
• Replacing skilled labor with AI can result in harm, not benefit. #corroborates (0.85) — Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna, The AI Con- How to Fight Big Tech’s…, 168
• Full automation is incompatible with capitalist private exploitation of labor #contradicts (0.80) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 197
• Mass automation forces states to tighten social controls on the unemployed #expands (0.75) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 241