The AI Revolution: From Ethics to Empire
It’s been just over a year since the tech world was abuzz with the news that OpenAI had quietly lifted its ban on using AI for military purposes. Since then, the landscape has changed dramatically. Meta, Anthropic, and Google have all announced their own changes in policy, allowing their AI models to be used for defense purposes. This shift is more than just a sudden change of heart – it marks a fundamental shift in the relationship between the state and tech corporations.
So, what’s driving this change? For one, it’s not just about the money. While the Pentagon’s massive budgets and long-term contracting contracts are certainly attractive to tech startups, researchers say that’s not the only factor at play. As economist David J. Teece noted in 2018, “GPTs grow faster when there’s a big, demanding, and income-generating utility sector.” The Pentagon’s massive budgets and long-term contracting make it a highly attractive customer for new technologies.
But there’s more to it than just profit motive. The shift is also reflective of a broader change in the way we think about the relationship between the state and tech corporations. The past few years have seen a significant shift away from neoliberal free market ideals and towards a more state-centric approach. This is characterized by the growing influence of geopolitics in the tech sector.
In the US, the once-broad consensus about the role of technology in innovation, growth, and state power has unraveled. The implications of this shift are being felt far beyond the tech industry itself. As we examine the emergence of a new era of state-capitalist relationships, we need to consider the ways in which the tech sector has been reshaped by the imperatives of the state.
Looking back, it’s clear that the Silicon Valley Consensus, which held sway until the mid-2010s, has unraveled. This broad agreement between the tech elite and the political institution posited that globalized communication, capital, knowledge, and technology served their interests. The tech sector, initially driven by utopian impulses, came to see its mutual goals achieved through the same means as the state: a borderless world of commerce and knowledge.
But that consensus has given way to a new reality, where the interests of the state and tech corporations are becoming increasingly intertwined. As we look to the future, it’s clear that the relationships between states and their tech corporations will play a pivotal role in shaping the course of globalization and the trajectory of capitalist competition.
So, what does this mean for the future of AI? As we move forward, it’s clear that the tech sector will continue to play a critical role in shaping the course of human history. But it’s also clear that the relationships between states and tech corporations will be critical in determining the trajectory of this progress. Will we see a future where AI is used to further the interests of the state and the tech corporations, or will we see a future where AI is used to benefit humanity as a whole? Only time will tell.
