The emergence of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is poised to significantly alter capitalist economies, raising questions about property, hierarchy, and inequality that have long been debated in political thought. Historian and broadcaster Paul Mason draws connections between contemporary AI developments and ideas from classical philosophy and Marxist theory, suggesting that automation’s potential impact extends beyond the labor market to core capitalist structures.

The concept that autonomous machines could disrupt human labor is not new. Aristotle, referencing a myth from the Iliad, imagined tools that could perform work independently, thereby reducing the need for human assistants and undermining established social roles. Similarly, in the 19th century, Karl Marx anticipated that intellectual property might evolve into “socialised knowledge,” merging into a “general intellect” that could destabilize capitalism.

This vision has resurfaced amid current AI advancements. In July, Dean Ball, head of strategic futures at OpenAI, proposed that China’s promotion of open-source AI could lead to what he termed “full AI communism,” characterizing it as a dystopian model where AI is treated as a state-provided public good. Mason challenges this label, interpreting China’s approach as a strategic counterweight to the United States, where AI development is mainly centralized, with access restricted through online platforms tightly controlled by American companies.

China’s strategy involves making AI models open source, enabling local deployment and shielding data from external exploitation. This approach reflects Beijing’s broader aim to dominate emerging technologies rooted in AI, including brain-machine interfaces and delivery drone networks. The global competition between these distinct AI ecosystems—closed, proprietary models from the U.S. and open-source models from China—may shape information technology and economic power for decades.

However, Mason highlights a pivotal question: could AI be directed toward alternative social models, rather than reinforcing hierarchical capitalism? Large language models (LLMs) now embody features comparable to Marx’s “general intellect,” incorporating extensive human knowledge and outperforming skilled professionals in some tasks. While existing AI monopolies have enriched shareholders and workers in the short term, the technology’s capacity to replace roles traditionally held by both workers and entrepreneurs presents unprecedented challenges.

Economist Philippe Aghion has warned that AI might sever the historical link between innovation and profit, as autonomous systems can instantly replicate and improve discoveries, diminishing incentives for traditional entrepreneurship. This could undermine capitalism’s fundamental mechanisms. Mason argues that instead of resisting AI adoption, societies could embrace this disruption by redesigning economic institutions.

Potential strategies include decoupling income from labor through universal basic services, encouraging cooperative and nonprofit business models, and employing AI to optimize resource allocation more effectively than current market systems. However, Mason stresses that these changes require deliberate choices in AI design. He contrasts American AI’s focus on competition and secrecy with China’s open-source, state-supported model, noting that alternative frameworks—such as those centered on social democracy or environmental sustainability—could also be developed.

Such a model might prioritize energy efficiency, collective well-being, and altruism over individualism and profit. Mason suggests that investing resources now to create un-owned, community-oriented AI could offer a viable path forward, particularly if it gains traction against subscription-based services dominating the market.

Ultimately, Mason contends that while AI is unlikely to automatically usher in a classless society, it has the potential to provoke a fundamental crisis for the existing capitalist system. How humanity chooses to shape the deployment and governance of AI will impact economic and social structures for the remainder of the century.