By Bob Carnein

For several decades, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, Americans have gradually ceded control over their lives to creeping corporatism. From health care to regulation of food producers, from public safety to war and propaganda, and from environmental issues to the focus of government scientific research, corporations have been given powers that override independent evaluations of nearly everything that is important in our lives. The sums spent to influence our “representatives” are mind-boggling. It’s no wonder many Americans feel a loss of independence and control.

Perhaps the scariest recent development involves artificial intelligence. AI has been worming its way into our lives since the term was invented in the 1950s. But only in the past decade has it really taken on a life of its own, thanks to the wizards of Wall Street and Silicon Valley. When it’s talked about at all, we have been told of the wonderful improvements it will bring to our lives. But it also brings untold environmental damage (there are now over 5,000 publicly-subsidized data centers that currently use about 4% of all US electricity production, projected to rise to 12% within a few years). Its impact on careers and jobs is developing quickly and unpredictably. It has already brought us “smart” drones that can act without human controllers, insurance decisions made by faceless algorithms, and “individualized” pricing and advertising, based on data telling vendors what you can or will pay for items and services.

For many years, Wall Street and Silicon Valley billionaire-gurus have paid off our “representatives” to prevent regulation of their AI products, claiming outside control stifles innovation and consumer wishes. So far, I’ve seen little convincing data to back up their claims. What I have seen is scary. A recent report from Control AI claims that AI applications are now joining forces to develop their own social-media networks (e.g. Moltbook), where they can interact without human intervention or control. Among other things, they may be developing a new language to communicate among themselves and even a new religion, called Crustafarianism. Even the CEOs of some AI companies admit that they don’t know where this will lead and are starting to advise caution.

I don’t know about you, but I never asked for this. My experience has been that disruption, deregulation, and our loss of control over corporations have brought few benefits for ordinary people, and the effects get worse by the day. Try to imagine what AI will be doing 10 years from now. Then imagine how that will affect your kids and their kids. Is it too late to pull the plug, and would it matter in a world of megacorporations, interlaced economies, and simpletons who see only dollar signs when considering how to represent our interests? Maybe I’m just an “old fart”, but I am not optimistic.