There’s a quote floating around that feels like it was whispered to a Wall Street executive by a sentient crypto shitcoin: “The underlying purpose of Artificial Intelligence is to allow wealth to access skill while removing from the skilled the ability to access wealth.”
It also sounds like it should be engraved on the wall of a Silicon Valley speakeasy where tech-bro innovation incels drink distilled ethics and play chess with philosophers they’ve hired on Fiverr. Painting a picture of the future that's less Skynet and more, well, slightly irritatingly efficient cutthroat capitalism.
Part I: “Allow Wealth to Access Skill”
Translation: Morbidly Rich weasels, some of whom are on the Epstein tapes, want your talents without your salary. Once upon a time, if you wanted a logo, a novel, or a motivational speech filled with the right number of dramatic pauses, you had to hire a person who came with needs like rent, food, and breaks longer than four seconds. But now? You can type “Make me a Viking-themed children's book in the style of Hemingway” into a chatbot, and boom—instant watered down artistry. No coffee breaks, no opinions, no unionizing. This is the dream of capital: access to infinite skill without any messy labor costs. AI is the perfect employee - efficient, tireless, and doesn’t ask if your company has a single ethical bone.
The core of the joke and genuine societal concern is that AI is about allowing miserably regressive people who already have materially way too much to get even faster at getting more of it. Want to learn how to play the violin? Traditionally, you'd need to find an instructor, dedicate decades to potentially embarrassing yourself repeatedly in front of them while paying them. But with AI? You can download an app that analyzes your every fumble, corrects your posture in real-time, and even composes personalized practice routines based on your skill level.
Part II: “Removing from the Skilled the Ability to Access Wealth”
It’s not enough to give Scrooge McDuck unlimited skill on-demand... They also want to make sure you, the actual skilled person, can’t monetize your own abilities anymore. Welcome to the you're barely getting paid a living wage economy in the developed world which has been going on for decades in the under-developed world. Graphic designers? Writers? Programmers? Filmmakers? Skilled violin musicians and thus teachers? Well, they’re competing with an infinitely patient, always-available AI that doesn't need a salary or complaints. They’re left scrambling, Laid off. Rebranded as “prompt engineers.” Or worse - subscribers to the very platform that replaced them. That's a tough sell against the promise of instant improvement and personalized feedback.
AI is open to all... until it's not. Try training your own AI model using corporate data and suddenly you’ll get sued faster than you can say “Large Language Model" or "Data Set.” But when they do it with your art, your voice, your work—it’s “innovation.” It’s like watching a burglar steal your house and then rent it back to you through an app you built. The imbalanced absurdity of it all is almost comical. We’re essentially building a system where the already wealthy can outsource their skill acquisition to robots, while those who are already skilled are struggling to find a way to monetize their expertise in an increasingly automated world. It’s like watching a high-stakes game of Monopoly where one player starts with all the properties and a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Of course, this isn't necessarily a dystopian prophecy. AI does have the potential to democratize access to knowledge and empower individuals in countless ways and most are going to be going through cyberpunk before getting to solarpunk. But it’s crucial that we acknowledge the inherent biases baked into these systems and actively work to ensure that AI benefits everyone, not primarily the weasels. Otherwise, we might find ourselves in a future where robots are playing all the instruments and the skilled musicians are busking on street corners, desperately trying to earn enough to pay for their AI-powered vocal coach.