Bernie Sanders: "We are not understanding the unprecedented impact of Ai on our societies!"
The Democratic Senator in Turin warned Europe of the unprecedented risks of the ongoing concentration of power and wealth and of the effects of robotics and artificial intelligence, capable of swallowing up tens of millions of jobs in a few years and penetrating our lives, our minds and even our affections
by Lara Ricci
"I don't think the vast majority of people have realised the unprecedented impact that Ai will have on our society". Bernie Sanders, the famous US senator, author - among other things - of the recent Contro l'oligarchia (transl. by Davide Martirani, Chiarelettere) arrived in Turin specifically to speak at the Book Fair, where he was awaited by a stadium of fans, and what he seemed most anxious to say, after assuring Europeans that "Donald Trump's opinions and actions towards Europe in no way represent the position of the overwhelming majority of Americans", was to warn people of the risks of the concentration of power, money and technology in the hands of a very few and uncontrolled artificial intelligence and robotics, dedicated to enriching their owners, capable of knowing everything about citizens, penetrating their minds and even creating emotional relationships with them.
First he showed through numbers the terrible economic gap that is being created between a handful of powerful people, who never in the history of the planet had so much wealth and power: In the US, the 1% owns more than 93% of the people, Musk owns more wealth than 53% of the poorest American families, ceo's earn 350 times the average employee, over 60% of Americans live by the day, tens of millions of people struggle to make ends meet if and pay, a handful of billionaires control every sector from agriculture, to transport, to energy by charging sky-high fees for services, six major media groups control 90 percent of what Americans see, hear and read. Then he pointed out that it is a trend that also involves Italia, where wealth is becoming more and more concentrated while salaries are lower than before the pandemic, a period of time in which 79 billionaires have enriched themselves by no less than 64 billion. Which is a global phenomenon: 1 in 4 people in the monde suffer from hunger and the richest 1% of the population has more wealth than 95% of humanity. Twelve people in the world own more than half of the world's population.
After outlining this picture, he wanted to explain that these capitalists who have grown rich with new technologies have something different from their predecessors: a disproportionate greed. "Because there are so few of them, they see themselves in the same way as the monarchs you had in 19th century Europe, because they have been so successful, they arrogate to themselves the right to want to rule over everyone. I don't think it is true what they say when they claim to believe in democracy, Trump and his friends hate Europe because they have realised that the political foundations of Europe are very different from ours: European governments take care of health, education, and in some cases even regulate artificial intelligence. Here are the reasons for this hatred'.
Many, in Europe as well as in the rest of the world,' he continued, 'are not fully realising the potential of AI, which will create an unprecedented transformation of societies in a very short time. When we talk about AI and robotics, we first have to ask ourselves: who owns it and runs it? A very small number of the richest people on the planet, Musk, who has just earmarked 100 billion for robotics and Ai research, Bezos, who has invested 100 billion in creating centres for the study of Ai and robotics, Larry Allison, who has also thrown himself into it, as has Zuckerberg. We all have to ask ourselves a question, are we really all ready to put ourselves in the hands of this small group of people who perhaps don't care about the impact that Ai will have on our lives, on the world?" asked Sanders vehemently.
The impact of Ai and robotics on the labour market will be enormous. 'Musk,' he said in a long chat with journalist Francesco Costa, 'it is true that he lies and that he should be ashamed of himself, that I don't like him and that I don't trust him, but he is not stupid and he claims that with these two technologies that are able to do what we do better than we do, there will be no more need for work. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe in 20 years, but tens of millions of jobs will disappear. There are serious economists who have expressed concern about the end of manufacturing in the US in the world. Robots are becoming more and more capable. Today in the US, young people coming out of college are finding it harder and harder to get a job, companies are increasingly using Ai in legal administration. Tens of millions of people will lose their jobs, and in the US we are not prepared for that at all!"
