"Fear AI Companies, Not AI": Critique Challenges the Narrative of Inevitability and Corporate Control

The critique contends that AI companies are building "walled gardens" designed to charge rent and control user experiences. It highlights a specific business model described as "Artificial Employees as a Service," where companies aim to rent out artificial human replacements for human workers.

The author suggests that the narrative of AI being "inevitable" is used to manipulate the public into passive acceptance of corporate greed and mass layoffs. Rather than fearing the technology, the piece urges individuals to focus on authenticity and to resist the influence of companies that seek to capture and control the digital and physical workforce.

PLUS ULTRAby Amenoyomi

The narrative that AI is "inevitable" and "self-improving" serves a specific strategic purpose for AI companies. By claiming that AI is a dangerous, uncontrollable force that "cannot be put back in the bottle," these companies position themselves as the only qualified experts and sanctioned gatekeepers capable of enforcing safety policies. This framing shifts the focus away from the fact that AI's growth is not spontaneous, but depends entirely on the massive compute resources and harvested user data provided and controlled by the companies themselves.

This strategy enables a fundamental shift in the economic model of digital extraction. While the big data era focused on "renting out" users to advertisers by optimizing engagement and addiction, the AI era aims to "rent out" entire replacements for humans. This "Artificial Employees as a Service" model allows companies to package and lease artificial humans to other businesses, potentially granting the providers far more power than the elites of the previous data era by directly replacing the human workforce.