Crossposted from my personal blog. I was inspired to cross-post this here given the discussion that this post on the role of capital in an AI future elicited.

When discussing the future of AI, I semi-often hear an argument along the lines that in a slow takeoff world, despite AIs automating increasingly more of the economy, humanity will remain in the driving seat because of its ownership of capital. This world posits one where humanity effectively becomes a rentier class living well off the vast economic productivity of the AI economy where despite contributing little to no value, humanity can extract most/all of the surplus value created due to its ownership of capital alone.

This is a possibility, and indeed is perhaps closest to what a ‘positive singularity’ looks like from a purely human perspective. However, I don’t believe that this will happen by default in a competitive AI [...]

The original text contained 3 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
January 5th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bmmFLoBAWGnuhnqq5/capital-ownership-will-not-prevent-human-disempowerment

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.