Against AI and algorithmic dictatorship

Technological colonization

In recent years, AI systems have been colonising our societies at an alarming rate. Their power is growing exponentially. All organisations (governments, businesses, charities, political parties, etc.) are affected and forced to adopt this technology or disappear. In other words, we have no choice. The developers of this technology are imposing a political and social project on us without any democratic consultation.

The majority of people - except technocracy - know nothing (or close to nothing) about artificial intelligence, how it works or its social, ecological and anthropological implications. Not surprisingly, technocratic propaganda emphasises the rapid short-term gains in efficiency and never mentions the overall cost of AI for human societies and nature.

As with every breakthrough innovation for at least 150 years, technocrats put on their campaigning politician's clothes and promise the masses that they will be able to control natural phenomena, cure all diseases, eradicate war and famine or plan the development of societies. And as with politicians, promises are never kept. On the other hand, the growing overall cost of technological progress for society and for the human species is very real.

Our actions against Cyberweek in Rennes, France, at the end of the year 2024.

Present and future dangers of AI

AI development is already causing considerable damage to our societies. This technology is increasing concentration of power, massively destroying jobs, replacing human relationships, accelerating extractivism, impoverishment, energy consumption, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. States are increasingly using it to disinform, monitor and control their populations, and to perpetrate mass murders in Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East. AI is also being used by scientists for eugenics projects such as synthetic biology and artificial wombs. But the most terrifying aspect of this technology is the loss of control. AIs are already solving problems by bending certain rules; they are also learning to cheat and lie in games. The more complex and powerful AIs become, the less developers understand how the systems they have built themselves work. Even the world's AI experts admit that the human race will not be able to keep up with the performance of these systems for long.

There is no such thing as ‘ethical’ AI

The observation we make above is shared by many civil society organisations, NGOs, activists and militant groups defending freedoms and human rights. But when the time comes to propose a solution to the problem, the overwhelming majority of these groups call in chorus for more regulation, reforms, constraints, laws and sanctions for the ‘bad’ uses of technology. Yet a materialist analysis teaches us that technology is never neutral, that it produces its own effects independently of its uses. In other words, the social and ecological harm caused by AI is there because AI exists, not because AI is misused. Let's give a quick explanation. To design an AI, you need a techno-industrial system. This system has components - energy plants, mines, factories, data centres, landfill sites, computers, smartphones - and communication and transport infrastructures - roads, motorways, electricity grids, telecommunications networks, undersea cables - to link these components together.

To build and maintain this system, human societies need to be organised in a hierarchical, authoritarian and anti-democratic way. A tendency that is constantly reinforced by technological development. As for the overall ecological and climatic impact, this depends on the level of development of the industrial system. The more components and infrastructure there are in the system, the greater the impact. Given that the development of AI requires new layers of components and infrastructures to be added to the existing ones, the overall ecological impact of the system increases mechanically with the development of this technology.

AI is one of the greatest threats to our species and all the others with whom we share this planet. This is why we demand that it be stopped and its infrastructure dismantled. The future of life on Earth is non-negotiable.