AI and the Collapse of Capitalism

Dr. Jason Polak

Sep 30, 2026

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For hundreds of years, capitalism has caused immense damage, and so Marxists, ecosocialists, and environmentalists have all wished for an alternative system that did not put economic efficiency above all else. I myself would like to see a collapse of capitalism. Or would I?

Capitalism is fundamentally against nature because it provides a mechanism to endlessly store anything we can extract without bounds. Photo © Jason Polak

Unfortunately, we are entering an era where we are likely to see the collapse of capitalism, but in such a way that the results will be even more disastrous than capitalism itself. That’s because the collapse does not necessarily have to come about from people and communities making a more sustainable society through a more equitable use of the commons.

Instead, there is another possible path for the collapse of capitalism: a new system where the exchange of goods and the building of technology is controlled by technology itself, rather than the free market.

The means to this end will be artificial intelligence and other systems. But, this doesn’t imply any magical increase in the power of AI, such as AGI (artificial general intelligence).

Instead, AI systems merely need (a) to be good enough to efficiently control the extraction and movement of resources, and (b) to be controllable by a tiny minority of the elite. As long as the elite can leverage AI and other computer systems to be self-sufficient in every way, then it will be sufficiently powerful to displace the existing system of capitalism. After all, capitalism is merely the system most currently suited for technological development.

It is virtually certain that the elites already recognize this, either consciously or subconsciously. That is one of the reason why there is so much investment into AI, even though economically it does not seem to make sense. Elites know that if they can reach a critical point of sufficient advancement, then they can unshackle themselves from being dependent on the masses operating in a capitalistic system.

This is why the tech bros hype up AI (”AGI is here”, “AI will reach godlike proportions”). It’s merely to distract us and make us think we know better. How often have you heard someone respond in disbelief to the wild statements of tech CEOs? By creating hype around their product, AI companies make the average person feel smart because it’s so easy to form a critical opinion against the hype. But at the same time, it detracts from the real issue: the elites want the ultimate control over people.

AI does not even need the capability to “do all jobs” for this to happen! For example, AI may never drive a car as well as a human being. But does it have to? Not at all. If the elite wiped out the rest of us, or at least most of us, driving would become a lot simpler because the roads would not be crowded.

So keep this in mind: the elite don’t need a mythical level of AGI. All they need is enough automation to maintain their wanton use of resources without us. If they can do that, then we’re lost. We’ll either be enslaved in some way or completely eradicated.

Does eradication sound far-fetched to you? The elites don’t even need to kill us directly. They can just push heavily for more polluting activities so that we see more devastating storms from climate change and other mass disasters, and then just let nature take its course while hiding in high-tech bunkers or gated communities. It doesn’t even have to be a conscious plan, because such an eventuality is likely to be an emergent direction of the system.

But even if we’re not eradicated, we’ll still have a miserable existence tightly entwined with technology. We’ll still have to spend most of our lives just trying to navigate this overly complex world, depending on advanced mass media and social programs designed by AI to survive, and that sort of life is contemptible. In fact, we’re most of the way there already.

Therefore, we need to eradicate AI, and moreover, initiate a new period of technological regression so that we don’t rely so much on technology. Moving in the direction of less and simpler lives is the only possibility to avoid the coming disaster.

Unfortunately, I think a lot of socialist-types will likely be overjoyed at the few bones being thrown at them such as new socialist policies and they’ll go right along with it to their demise. But if we can find a way to fight against this growing technology, then we should do everything within our means to fight.

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