The machines won’t enslave us. We’ll do it to ourselves. Not because of some grand collapse, but because someone saw a market opportunity afforded by AI—and jumped.
We’re staring down the barrel of an AI race we never even signed up for.
There is a very real comparison to this race that’s been happening to millions of people all around the world ever since the inception of an assembly line (the original automation). These workers in sweatshops—mostly women—labor for hours in unsafe, underpaid conditions just to survive. They’re not choosing between jobs. They’re choosing between hardship and hunger. They are literal slaves because they have no other option. When robotic automation enters their industries, it won’t liberate them. It will force them into something much, much worse to make ends meet.
This is the future for all of us if we don’t start acting now.
Once we employ robots (or automation)—the outcome will not be liberating unless we plan for more than just replacement.
We must build something with dignity at its core—or technology will just become another way to deepen the divide between us. Tools—no matter how advanced—should serve human values, not replace them.
