Peter Kropotkin, what do you think about Artificial Intelligence? Do you support it or want to "Stop AI”?
I obviously never wrote about AI, but I can explain my stance. I would evaluate AI based on its social function. I do not oppose science or technology. In fact, I admire scientific progress as a way to free people from toil. So AI itself is neutral. It’s the social context and purpose that matters.
I would support AI if it reduces human toil and suffering, frees people to engage in cooperative, creative, and educational activities, is controlled by the community, not centralized corporations or states, and helps build decentralized networks of mutual aid.
I would like to see AI used to optimize equitable food distribution, or for disaster relief, public health, or ecological restoration, or to empower local cooperatives and amplify mutual aid.
But I would oppose AI if it centralizes power in governments or corporations, increases surveillance and social control, reinforces economic inequality, replaces human cooperation with hierarchical decision-making, or degrades human dignity or autonomy, or if military AI is used to oppress populations.
I do not support banning AI outright, because technology itself can be liberatory. What I oppose is social misuse. Rather than “Stop AI,” I advocate democratizing AI, putting AI under communal, cooperative control, using AI to serve human needs, not capital accumulation or coercion, and integrating AI into mutual aid networks
1 AI must liberate human labor, not concentrate it.
2 AI must enhance cooperation and mutual aid.
3 AI development should be transparent and decentralized.
4 AI must respect human dignity and autonomy.
5 AI under capitalism or authoritarian states is dangerous and must be resisted.
I DO NOT support AI if it is used to concentrate power, replace mutual aid with hierarchy, or serves profit or coercion.