AI's wealth and knowledge: Who truly benefits from the revolution?

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has brought the question of wealth distribution to the forefront of economic and political discussion. US Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed that giant AI companies should relinquish half their capital to a public fund. His argument rests on the premise that these companies' models are trained on the accumulated experience and knowledge of humanity, suggesting that the benefits derived from this collective resource should be shared.

Sanders' proposal, introduced in June, places the ownership of these companies and their returns at the center of the debate. However, writer and researcher Evgeny Morozov argues that simply dividing capital does not fully address the evolving relationship between society and machines. Morozov believes the issue also encompasses the knowledge that humans deposit into AI systems and how this knowledge can be returned to them as a usable and developable collective capacity, rather than remaining confined within the platforms that gather and repurpose it.

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The proposal that Sanders presented in June places the ownership of companies and their returns at the heart of the issue, but the writer and researcher Evgeny Morozov believes that sharing capital alone does not resolve the nature of the new relationship between society and the machine.

Morozov highlights a practical example from July 2024 in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England. A man named Lauren Cole received a parking fine of £60 from Parking Eye. He used ChatGPT to help him contest the fine, which ultimately led to him receiving £462 in compensation. While this incident seems minor compared to the global AI discourse, it illustrates a significant shift in individuals' ability to handle legal and administrative matters that previously required specialized knowledge. Morozov points to tenants facing neglectful landlords, immigrants contesting administrative decisions, and patients in disputes with insurance companies, all of whom can now use AI tools for quick access to arguments, templates, and options to defend their interests.

However, Cole's experience also reveals the limitations of this new power. While he received compensation and learned to advocate for himself, his experience does not automatically transfer to the next person facing the same company. The platform, meanwhile, gains new knowledge from each interaction, feeding into its development cycle. Morozov poses a critical question: How can the expertise generated by individuals using AI be transformed into a resource available to everyone? He contends that focusing solely on distributing financial returns, while returning some value to society, does not necessarily grant citizens greater control over the tools mediating their relationship with institutions, work, and knowledge. He cites Sanders as a prominent advocate for reclaiming AI's benefits for society through a fund holding stakes in major companies, but Morozov suggests this solution leaves the user isolated when facing daily challenges with AI.

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How can the expertise generated by individuals during the use of artificial intelligence be transformed into a resource available to all?