No-One Escapes the Permanent Underclass
Key takeaways
- If AI can do all work at human level or better, what stops corporations replacing us all with AI?
- I want to argue this is a fantastically short-sighted view: if there is a permanent underclass, you won’t escape it by owning property, or shares in Anthropic or OpenAI, or guns, or anything else.
- First I explain how most workers will be replaced (if it’s not obvious), then how the “permanent overclass” will be disempowered, and finally how the government will be disempowered.
Shall I end this life a pauper? If AI can do all work at human level or better, what stops corporations replacing us all with AI? This is the permanent underclass meme. The idea is: within a few years, all white collar work will be automated by AI, at which point there is no social mobility. The main way people cope is, they tell themselves: if I work hard, accumulate capital, maybe join one of the big AI labs, I might secure my place in the future.
I want to argue this is a fantastically short-sighted view: if there is a permanent underclass, you won’t escape it by owning property, or shares in Anthropic or OpenAI, or guns, or anything else. And neither will the billionaires. You, me, Sam Altman, Dario, everyone who is made of flesh and blood, will be disempowered and replaced by machines.
The rest of this post elaborates the argument. First I explain how most workers will be replaced (if it’s not obvious), then how the “permanent overclass” will be disempowered, and finally how the government will be disempowered.