For your editorials and articles on AI, including Raphael Behr’s article (Keir Starmer is right to bet on the AI revolution, but it may not pay off in time, 15 January), please read this fifth edition. A thoughtful contribution to the debate about the next industrial revolution. Much of it considers how democracies govern AI. But little has been written about the elephant in the room: how labor markets transformed by AI will impact democratic governance itself.
Since the Second Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century, apart from an interlude of European fascism, the prevailing national political superstructure of industrial capitalism in the Global North has been various forms of parliamentary democracy. . These structures developed primarily because organized labor was able to negotiate with capital for a share of the wealth produced by human labor and established political parties to represent workers’ interests. Indeed, a labor relations system based on freedom of association and collective bargaining has been a pillar of a functioning democracy.
But rather than creating more productive jobs, as some assume, the AI revolution will eliminate capital’s dependence on human labor to generate surplus value and profits. , potentially involving innovative reductions in labor and employment. If this leads to the collapse of workers’ organizations and the further hollowing out of the economic base of social democratic parties, serious problems will arise. How will capital be managed and held accountable? What will prevent the world’s Musk tribes from achieving full state capture? To some extent, redistributing the wealth generated in AI value chains What mechanisms remain to ensure this happens, and how far can incomes fall before demand levels become unsustainably low?
Simon Stein
Former Senior Adviser on Fundamental Rights at Work, International Labor Organization
Have an opinion on what you read in today’s Guardian? Email your letter to us. It will be considered for publication in our letters section.
