It may be that technology is finally dissolving the relationship of mutual necessity between capital and labor that allows labor to act *as labor*, but that was always something we’d have to move beyond if we were ever to free ourselves from capital. This reminds me of Joshua Clover’s book “Riot, Strike, Riot”, and the possibility of moving the sites of resistance and changing our conception of who we are in opposition to our oppressors. It can indeed be very powerful to organize unemployed people - it’s just not “labor” power.
A note about the power of organizing unemployed people: a couple of unions have used their resources to start workers co-ops (https://youtu.be/24LKA_8rk2k, around the 19 minute mark). That’s helping to organize un- and under-employed people into workers co-ops, and it’s a way to increase worker participation in the labour movement, create more democratized workplaces, and provide services for communities.
In addition, in Canada, things like the On-to-Ottawa Trek in 1935 (https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/on-to-ottawa-trek) and the National Unemployed Workers Association in the 30s (https://www.esask.uregina.ca/entry/workers_unity_league.html) showed the power of organizing unemployed people. As Bill Waiser writes about the NUWA’s perspective in All Hell Can’t Stop Us, “Joblessness was not the consequence of personal failing, but the collapse of the capitalist system…. ‘Organize unemployed councils…Fight, don’t starve.’” We once again need to get away from the idea that, unless you’re able to get a union card, you’re not part of the labour movement; it weakens solidarity across the working class.
Perhaps the approach is to move beyond organizing labor to organizing economies. Even the AI companies after all have to recognize that workers are also employees and their success, or those of the companies that make products with their AI, depend entirely on having people who can pay for it. That is why the same usual suspects who promise "abundance" are excited about UBI because it acts as a market float while they eat us and themselves.
If workers cannot strike, can they persuade other workers not to buy? Do not attend the movie with the AI actress. Do not read the book by the AI author etc. Yes it won't stop the race to the bottom for the companies but perhaps concentrated market power can help to set the value of AI-based products to zero and thus dry up the revenue.
I agree this is not a complete or perhaps even partial solution, but it is an avenue of power.
I’m glad (maybe not the correct word) that I’m not the only person who read that NYMag article and was overwhelmed by the dystopia of it. I handed it over to my Gen Z kid and he basically said “fully aware. Not sure what we do. We are fucked.”
Hamilton, thank you for calling out one of the most critical issues that's being lost in all the "abundance mindset" BS surrounding the AI-driven future.
Does capitalism terminate when it no longer functions for 80+% of humanity, or does it simply morph into something else that will be even worse? Some of that transition may already be taking place. Thinking caps needed for sure. Humanity would be wise to observe the First Law Of Holes: When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
Arguably capitalism that does not function for most people is serfdom which we had for centuries. What made the dark ages dark after all was not just the ignorance but the massive gap between those who ruled and the rest.
We will rise up and kill the motherfuckers before that happens. There are SO MANY more of us than there are of them...And we don't have a cultural identity toward thinking like serfs.
I haven't see a more comprehensive use of the divide conquer idea than what Mercor is utilizing against wage earners. The atomization of Americans has been around for decades, but I've not seen it so effectively applied. The 6 bullet points HN lays out are devastatingly thorough in handcuffing workers to a job that almost guarantees they will lose their present job and at the same time undermines employment opportunities in the future. I know there is plenty of evidence that these big AI companies are losing money, and environmentally the gigantic data centers are simply not environmentally sustainable, but AI is here to stay. Its now in the fabric of our economy, and it does have benefits, but its implementation isn't prioritizing people over profits. Its seems the best thing that can be done is to do what Mr. HN is doing, get the word out.
I appreciate your piece as it raises important concerns. I just looped back here in my piece to the beginning of oppressive computer tech for some perspective. AI just lowers the entry costs for business to do what they have been doing since the 1980s. https://newsletter.aprogressiveway.com/fault-not-in-ai-but-capitalism/
Presuming people have read the latest "Atlantic" cover story on AI -- this is not some decade long economic transition -- this is stealing today with no consequences for tomorrow.
I read the original article in New York and also read this -- thank you to both journalists for this important coverage! I am definitely someone who spends a lot of time/energy terrified of AI, and deeply upset at its human (let alone environmental) costs. That said, though, I was a bit frustrated by this coverage's failure to point out that app-based workers actually already are showing us how to organize. NYC's own Deliveristas Unidos is a great example, as is the city's Taxi Workers' Alliance work with Uber/Lyft drivers. These workers have managed to organize not just against the conditions so well outlined in this article (lack of worksite, precarity, competition for piecemeal work, etc.) but also across language and cultural barriers, and without some of the racial and educational privilege of Mercor workers. I'm not saying this to sugarcoat the situation -- it's f*cking scary. And really bad. And the Mercor situation in some ways is worse than that of drivers/deliveristas, especially inasmuch as deliveristas and drivers do have spaces to physically be close to one another. But still, I think that could have provided a helpful vision of what organizing can look like, while also giving well-deserved recognition to the efforts of incredible labor organizers who are working outside the bounds of the NLRB and traditional worksites. That also brings up a sidenote for me: the NLRB was never set up to protect workers, and never was going to save us! The inability of the NLRB to address issues of gig-ified work is, for me, a feature, not a bug, of the system, and this should just serve as another remind that real labor power needs to be built outside the bounds of the traditional US labor structures.
That said, I really appreciate and enjoy this newsletter! Thank you for your coverage!
By coincidence 404 Media published this story today about 'data labelers' in East Africa. It's not a perfect analogy but there are some similarities to Mercor.
I don't see a way to implement such a covert scheme, but what if the professionals employed to kill their professions contaminate the models with subtle but meaningfully incorrect information? Certainly the wunkderkind 'founders' of these companies aren't competent to detect such subterfuge.
I had hoped I would be dead and buried before the violent stage of late stage capitalism came to a head but clearly I won't miss it...The bad news. Its gonna get REAL bad and its too late to turn the ship around...effectively its over and there is nothing we can do to stop the destruction. I'm finding myself caring less and less because we are so utterly helpless against what's coming ..The GOOD news...If you're young enough, on the other end is a world free of the curse of capitalism. But at least 1/3d of the human race will die in the interim...SOOOO glad to have many fewer days ahead than behind. I had a good life
> The progress of the AI industry is in effect shrinking the sphere of economic life in which unions might even hope to be able to help humans.
This part doesn't follow—just because some parts of white collar work get automated doesn't mean the overall sphere is shrinking, because new jobs will be created based on inherently un-automatable things. For example, I expect that a significant part of the value of writers in the future will be people paying for writing that they know is from a human. And we should expect compensation for this type of value to increase, because it becomes more scarce relative to automatable tasks. Another example: in software, people may more into roles which are a hybrid SWE/PM/designer. Some part of the design job is inherently human, because it's based on a feel for what other humans want to interact with. Therefore this persists as a job.
That's quite an optimistic take, and while I don't share that optimism, you're right in that new things will emerge that might ameliorate the effects of AI.
It may be that technology is finally dissolving the relationship of mutual necessity between capital and labor that allows labor to act *as labor*, but that was always something we’d have to move beyond if we were ever to free ourselves from capital. This reminds me of Joshua Clover’s book “Riot, Strike, Riot”, and the possibility of moving the sites of resistance and changing our conception of who we are in opposition to our oppressors. It can indeed be very powerful to organize unemployed people - it’s just not “labor” power.
A note about the power of organizing unemployed people: a couple of unions have used their resources to start workers co-ops (https://youtu.be/24LKA_8rk2k, around the 19 minute mark). That’s helping to organize un- and under-employed people into workers co-ops, and it’s a way to increase worker participation in the labour movement, create more democratized workplaces, and provide services for communities.
In addition, in Canada, things like the On-to-Ottawa Trek in 1935 (https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/on-to-ottawa-trek) and the National Unemployed Workers Association in the 30s (https://www.esask.uregina.ca/entry/workers_unity_league.html) showed the power of organizing unemployed people. As Bill Waiser writes about the NUWA’s perspective in All Hell Can’t Stop Us, “Joblessness was not the consequence of personal failing, but the collapse of the capitalist system…. ‘Organize unemployed councils…Fight, don’t starve.’” We once again need to get away from the idea that, unless you’re able to get a union card, you’re not part of the labour movement; it weakens solidarity across the working class.
Perhaps the approach is to move beyond organizing labor to organizing economies. Even the AI companies after all have to recognize that workers are also employees and their success, or those of the companies that make products with their AI, depend entirely on having people who can pay for it. That is why the same usual suspects who promise "abundance" are excited about UBI because it acts as a market float while they eat us and themselves.
If workers cannot strike, can they persuade other workers not to buy? Do not attend the movie with the AI actress. Do not read the book by the AI author etc. Yes it won't stop the race to the bottom for the companies but perhaps concentrated market power can help to set the value of AI-based products to zero and thus dry up the revenue.
I agree this is not a complete or perhaps even partial solution, but it is an avenue of power.
I’m glad (maybe not the correct word) that I’m not the only person who read that NYMag article and was overwhelmed by the dystopia of it. I handed it over to my Gen Z kid and he basically said “fully aware. Not sure what we do. We are fucked.”
404 Media looked at what’s happening with the workers in Africa who’ve been acting as sex chat bots and labeling porn to *improve AI* and have suffered from PTSD and other issues as a result of the work. Well, looks like they’re unionizing. https://www.404media.co/ai-is-african-intelligence-the-workers-who-train-ai-are-fighting-back/
Hamilton, thank you for calling out one of the most critical issues that's being lost in all the "abundance mindset" BS surrounding the AI-driven future.
The "abundance mindset" was never anything but a cover story for exploitation by the same crowd that covered for deregulation and now gambling.
Does capitalism terminate when it no longer functions for 80+% of humanity, or does it simply morph into something else that will be even worse? Some of that transition may already be taking place. Thinking caps needed for sure. Humanity would be wise to observe the First Law Of Holes: When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
Arguably capitalism that does not function for most people is serfdom which we had for centuries. What made the dark ages dark after all was not just the ignorance but the massive gap between those who ruled and the rest.
We will rise up and kill the motherfuckers before that happens. There are SO MANY more of us than there are of them...And we don't have a cultural identity toward thinking like serfs.
"Does capitalism terminate when it no longer functions for 80+% of humanity"
yes
I haven't see a more comprehensive use of the divide conquer idea than what Mercor is utilizing against wage earners. The atomization of Americans has been around for decades, but I've not seen it so effectively applied. The 6 bullet points HN lays out are devastatingly thorough in handcuffing workers to a job that almost guarantees they will lose their present job and at the same time undermines employment opportunities in the future. I know there is plenty of evidence that these big AI companies are losing money, and environmentally the gigantic data centers are simply not environmentally sustainable, but AI is here to stay. Its now in the fabric of our economy, and it does have benefits, but its implementation isn't prioritizing people over profits. Its seems the best thing that can be done is to do what Mr. HN is doing, get the word out.
What profits? No one but Nvdia is making any.
I appreciate your piece as it raises important concerns. I just looped back here in my piece to the beginning of oppressive computer tech for some perspective. AI just lowers the entry costs for business to do what they have been doing since the 1980s. https://newsletter.aprogressiveway.com/fault-not-in-ai-but-capitalism/
The fuel for capitalism is consumption.
The fuel for consumption is money.
If the masses have no income, they can't consume.
If they can't consume, capitalism breaks down.
That doesn't look like a great strategy... for anyone. Including the top 1%.
One has to ask: have they thought this through?
Maybe this is how it will play out as incomes are depleted:
- Sell off of stocks & shares. The stock market will tumble.
- Burn off liquid assets - i.e. cash in the bank. Run on the banks.
- Disposal of fixed assets - i.e. property. The housing market will crash.
- Capitalism falls. One can hope.
P.S. Brilliant article, as ever.
Presuming people have read the latest "Atlantic" cover story on AI -- this is not some decade long economic transition -- this is stealing today with no consequences for tomorrow.
I read the original article in New York and also read this -- thank you to both journalists for this important coverage! I am definitely someone who spends a lot of time/energy terrified of AI, and deeply upset at its human (let alone environmental) costs. That said, though, I was a bit frustrated by this coverage's failure to point out that app-based workers actually already are showing us how to organize. NYC's own Deliveristas Unidos is a great example, as is the city's Taxi Workers' Alliance work with Uber/Lyft drivers. These workers have managed to organize not just against the conditions so well outlined in this article (lack of worksite, precarity, competition for piecemeal work, etc.) but also across language and cultural barriers, and without some of the racial and educational privilege of Mercor workers. I'm not saying this to sugarcoat the situation -- it's f*cking scary. And really bad. And the Mercor situation in some ways is worse than that of drivers/deliveristas, especially inasmuch as deliveristas and drivers do have spaces to physically be close to one another. But still, I think that could have provided a helpful vision of what organizing can look like, while also giving well-deserved recognition to the efforts of incredible labor organizers who are working outside the bounds of the NLRB and traditional worksites. That also brings up a sidenote for me: the NLRB was never set up to protect workers, and never was going to save us! The inability of the NLRB to address issues of gig-ified work is, for me, a feature, not a bug, of the system, and this should just serve as another remind that real labor power needs to be built outside the bounds of the traditional US labor structures.
That said, I really appreciate and enjoy this newsletter! Thank you for your coverage!
By coincidence 404 Media published this story today about 'data labelers' in East Africa. It's not a perfect analogy but there are some similarities to Mercor.
Whoops https://www.404media.co/ai-is-african-intelligence-the-workers-who-train-ai-are-fighting-back/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter
Your writing often terrifies me, but I appreciate it a lot.
Hell is empty; all the billionaires are here.
Literally got a 'recruiting' email from Mercor yesterday. Glad you wrote this, you just earned a subscriber!
I don't see a way to implement such a covert scheme, but what if the professionals employed to kill their professions contaminate the models with subtle but meaningfully incorrect information? Certainly the wunkderkind 'founders' of these companies aren't competent to detect such subterfuge.
I had hoped I would be dead and buried before the violent stage of late stage capitalism came to a head but clearly I won't miss it...The bad news. Its gonna get REAL bad and its too late to turn the ship around...effectively its over and there is nothing we can do to stop the destruction. I'm finding myself caring less and less because we are so utterly helpless against what's coming ..The GOOD news...If you're young enough, on the other end is a world free of the curse of capitalism. But at least 1/3d of the human race will die in the interim...SOOOO glad to have many fewer days ahead than behind. I had a good life
> The progress of the AI industry is in effect shrinking the sphere of economic life in which unions might even hope to be able to help humans.
This part doesn't follow—just because some parts of white collar work get automated doesn't mean the overall sphere is shrinking, because new jobs will be created based on inherently un-automatable things. For example, I expect that a significant part of the value of writers in the future will be people paying for writing that they know is from a human. And we should expect compensation for this type of value to increase, because it becomes more scarce relative to automatable tasks. Another example: in software, people may more into roles which are a hybrid SWE/PM/designer. Some part of the design job is inherently human, because it's based on a feel for what other humans want to interact with. Therefore this persists as a job.
That's quite an optimistic take, and while I don't share that optimism, you're right in that new things will emerge that might ameliorate the effects of AI.