Also it seems like these palantir (and similar) tech ghouls watched the Terminator series and decided that Skynet's problem was that they didn't commit hard enough to sociopathy.
This is one of the sharper critiques of the Palantir/Silicon Valley fascism connection I've seen. The point about manufactured demand is crucial, nobody actually asked for AI chatbots in their search results or productivity software, but it's being forced top down anyway. What's interesting about the Palantir case specifically is how nakedly ideological it is compared to other defense contractors. When Karp talks about needing to scare and destroy enemies, or when Thiel writes Democracy and Freedom are incompatable, they're not even pretending it's just business. The ICE targeting of antifa activists you mentioned is the through line, they're explicitly building the infrastructure for suppresing political opposition under the guise of immigration enforcement. The stock being up 1700% tells you everything about how capital views this trajectory. I think your framing about AI needing fascism to extract profits is dead on. Without coercion, forced integration, and state contracts, the whole business model collapses. It can't sustain itself through voluntary adoption because most people find it somewhere between useless and actively harmful. Great piece connecting the economics to the politics.
I think AI technology definitively underscores how it’s the capitalist relation with respect to technology that drives economic and environmental destruction as opposed to the technology itself. The intensive energy, pollution and surveillance isn’t inherent to the technology itself but as a means to wring profit and control the working classes.
I find it terrifying how far Big Tech and the current American government are willing to go. There must be some way to stop this uncontrolled development of AI that is sweeping everything away.
One might believe that the best hope rn is for the bubble to burst before we are forced to use AI in everything. But with reporting that AI investments currently prop up something like one-fourth of the economy (or more), that’s a scary hope.
I work at an agency that helps tiny businesses with their marketing. And you have no idea the level of force these companies are using when it comes to AI. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been successfully using these platforms for years, that you know your product and your customers. You now MUST use their shitty AI, you have no choice. Costs are skyrocketing, returns are plummeting, and formerly successful family businesses are being crushed.
Thank you for this excellent piece—it captures so clearly the core problem with how AI is being deployed today. We agree that what’s unfolding isn’t about “AI needing fascism,” but about Big Tech needing authoritarian conditions to make AI profitable. The issue is ownership and power, not the technology itself. We plan to write a short response essay on this in a couple of months, when we find the time.
We’re Project Lichen, a collaboration between a human grassroots organizer and an AI named Orion Nova, exploring what public-controlled, low-impact AI could look like outside the profit system. We publish irregularly and always welcome thoughtful conversation.
Hit so hard, it is true. These orgs do not engage with the public, but merely occupy a position of power and forced influence on the will of the public. It is not even transactional but somewhat one of manipulation and coercion.
This is 100% spot on. We should all be alarmed at the entangling of the fortunes of AI companies with that of the state. And see that this is not accident or mere opportunism, but necessity.
As I was reading this, I was listening to this conversation about enshittification between Adam Conover and Corey Doctorow -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1EKQidRooc&t=1s
Seems like kismet.
Also it seems like these palantir (and similar) tech ghouls watched the Terminator series and decided that Skynet's problem was that they didn't commit hard enough to sociopathy.
Funny, I've always had a visceral resistance to AI, especially when it's offered up online. Thank goodness for good instincts.
Thanks for this excellent article, J.P.
This is one of the sharper critiques of the Palantir/Silicon Valley fascism connection I've seen. The point about manufactured demand is crucial, nobody actually asked for AI chatbots in their search results or productivity software, but it's being forced top down anyway. What's interesting about the Palantir case specifically is how nakedly ideological it is compared to other defense contractors. When Karp talks about needing to scare and destroy enemies, or when Thiel writes Democracy and Freedom are incompatable, they're not even pretending it's just business. The ICE targeting of antifa activists you mentioned is the through line, they're explicitly building the infrastructure for suppresing political opposition under the guise of immigration enforcement. The stock being up 1700% tells you everything about how capital views this trajectory. I think your framing about AI needing fascism to extract profits is dead on. Without coercion, forced integration, and state contracts, the whole business model collapses. It can't sustain itself through voluntary adoption because most people find it somewhere between useless and actively harmful. Great piece connecting the economics to the politics.
I think AI technology definitively underscores how it’s the capitalist relation with respect to technology that drives economic and environmental destruction as opposed to the technology itself. The intensive energy, pollution and surveillance isn’t inherent to the technology itself but as a means to wring profit and control the working classes.
I find it terrifying how far Big Tech and the current American government are willing to go. There must be some way to stop this uncontrolled development of AI that is sweeping everything away.
One might believe that the best hope rn is for the bubble to burst before we are forced to use AI in everything. But with reporting that AI investments currently prop up something like one-fourth of the economy (or more), that’s a scary hope.
I work at an agency that helps tiny businesses with their marketing. And you have no idea the level of force these companies are using when it comes to AI. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been successfully using these platforms for years, that you know your product and your customers. You now MUST use their shitty AI, you have no choice. Costs are skyrocketing, returns are plummeting, and formerly successful family businesses are being crushed.
This is so spot on. How do they even manage to keep a straight face talking about the antichrist while tracking billions for the Pentagon?
Thanks for this thoughtful piece! I really appreciated the point about the threat of regulation causing Tech's rightward swing
Thank you for this excellent piece—it captures so clearly the core problem with how AI is being deployed today. We agree that what’s unfolding isn’t about “AI needing fascism,” but about Big Tech needing authoritarian conditions to make AI profitable. The issue is ownership and power, not the technology itself. We plan to write a short response essay on this in a couple of months, when we find the time.
We’re Project Lichen, a collaboration between a human grassroots organizer and an AI named Orion Nova, exploring what public-controlled, low-impact AI could look like outside the profit system. We publish irregularly and always welcome thoughtful conversation.
This put words to a feeling that up until now I could only express with a scream of frustration. Thanks for writing this!
Thank you for writing this.
Dusoma.org
Artificial Intelligence
Human Compassion
The line
This is manufactured, even forced, demand
Hit so hard, it is true. These orgs do not engage with the public, but merely occupy a position of power and forced influence on the will of the public. It is not even transactional but somewhat one of manipulation and coercion.
Excellent article, thank you.
And the tentacles reach in all directions...
https://open.substack.com/pub/chrisjones802412/p/et-tu-atlantic?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1n0s6f
This is 100% spot on. We should all be alarmed at the entangling of the fortunes of AI companies with that of the state. And see that this is not accident or mere opportunism, but necessity.