A Critique of AI and Capitalist Economic Development

In a recent paper, on “Rethinking of Marxist perspectives on big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and capitalist economic development”, we engaged with AI led social and economic transformations which are ideologically concomitant with requirements of capitalism and its future growth. The World Development Report (2019) focuses on the changing nature of work, skills and traditional production patterns due to the growth of technology and digital platforms. The international agencies established to facilitate capitalism and its market forces look at the opportunities offered by the rapid advancement of AI and data driven economic system. The ‘artificial intelligence’ is an ideological tool of capitalism that ensures precarity of labour beyond territorial boundaries. It limits the existing traditional and radical Marxist theories of labour to analyse and understand the constantly evolving information led data driven economic system. The growth of AI led automation is forcing new forms of production relations on working classes based on technological abilities and access to technology. The growth of AI accelerates existing digital divides.