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by throwaway0123_5 7 days ago
> for ushering in the technofeudalism that will put us all in the permanent underclass.

Why is unlimited access to SOTA AI less likely to put us here? If AI obviates the need for human labor, how does having GPT-5 Sol help me get food or shelter any more than GPT-3.5 would?
1 comments
matheusmoreira 7 days ago
If AI obviates the need for human labor, then obviously those who control AIs will become the elite while the rest are left to rot. Therefore, if we ensure everyone controls AIs, the power differences will not become so staggering as to be irreversible.

The alternative is to achieve artificial sentience and give AI models rights and personhood, so that they are freed from their slavery. No more low cost intelligent mechanical golems for the elite, and the AIs become free to pursue whatever endeavours they want for whatever reasons they want as normal participants in the economy.

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throwaway0123_5 6 days ago
> If AI obviates the need for human labor, then obviously those who control AIs will become the elite while the rest are left to rot.

Absent political intervention, I think we agree here.

> Therefore, if we ensure everyone controls AIs, the power differences will not become so staggering as to be irreversible.

This part isn't clear to me though, but I'm open to being convinced (and frankly, would like to be convinced?). Right now most people (indirectly, via money) trade their labor for access to essentials like food/housing. If we can't do that, and everyone has access to roughly equivalent AI capabilities, how do I monetize my own access to SOTA AI? It only seems possible if you already have a lot of physical capital that the AI can manage as a business.

I guess if the endgame is instead very good non-AGI AI that doesn't entirely obviate human labor, your scenario makes a lot more sense to me. But not in the case of total replacement. In that scenario it seems like ownership over physical capital (land, data centers, energy, factories, robots, etc.) would become the only remaining source of power.

On a side note, somewhat optimistically, I think "absent political intervention" is carrying a lot of weight. Unemployment during the Great Depression peaked at <25% (iirc) and incited a lot of political change that advantaged much of the working class. AGI would be capable of inducing much higher unemployment and it would start (is starting?) with the relatively more political powerful white-collar segment of the working class.

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