AI and the Future: The Labour Party's Blind Spot

The Labour Party's AI Plan

The Labour Party has published an AI Opportunities Action Plan, hailing AI as essential and urging public investment to seize growth opportunities. The plan uses buzzwords like "x" to emphasize 20-fold increases in investment and 10,000x increases in compute capacity.

The plan exudes nationalism, claiming world-leading status through initiatives like the AI Safety Institute. It emphasizes the need for scale, without addressing the potential environmental and social consequences.

Poverty of the Plan

This article argues that the Labour government's AI plan is misguided, ignoring the harms of AI and its potential to exacerbate societal problems.

Despite recognizing the UK's current economic difficulties, the plan proposes AI-driven "AI Growth Zones," effectively granting land and power to datacentre developers. It fails to acknowledge the potential for these developments to fuel tensions and trigger violent unrest in disadvantaged areas.

The Rise of the Far Right

The Labour government's AI-centric approach will ultimately strengthen the far right's influence, as AI becomes a catalyst for polarization and post-truth politics.

The industry's obsession with "AI Safety" and the pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is rooted in eugenicist beliefs, dividing individuals based on their perceived intelligence levels.

Silicon Valley's ideology of "effective altruism" and "long termism" prioritize the development of AI above the concerns of ordinary citizens. This mindset has influenced UK policy, leading to the creation of the AI Safety Institute, which emphasizes the dangers of hypothetical threats posed by AI rather than the tangible harms it causes now.

Harms at Scale

Beneath the hype, AI poses significant environmental and social risks.

Generative AI models drive energy demands through the roof, as they require massive datacentres. These datacentres consume vast amounts of electricity, leading to the potential utilization of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases.

The social harms of AI include opaque and inaccurate decision-making, especially in welfare, education, and healthcare systems. AI systems reinforce structural violence by automating bias and marginalizing individuals.

The Labour government's commitment to AI solutions aligns with Thatcherite ideology, transferring control to the private sector and reducing public funding for essential services.

Alternatives: Decomputing

Instead of relying on AI's false promises, this article advocates for "decomputing" - a refusal of hyperscale computing, exploitative labor practices, and the exclusionary social structures AI reinforces.

Decomputing calls for opposing the construction of new datacentres, challenging the harmful applications of AI, and prioritizing acts of care and local democratic structures.

It recognizes the interconnectedness of social movements and the need for alternative infrastructures that promote sustainability, social justice, and collective well-being.

Conclusion

The Labour government's AI plan is a dangerous distraction from the real challenges facing society. Decomputing offers a way forward, advocating for bottom-up solutions and the recovery of forgotten visions of a more just and sustainable world.