Directing awareness to promote a neoliberal capitalist culture

Besides using artificial intelligence to maximize profits and consolidate social control, this technology is systematically employed to gradually shape and direct the consciousness of individuals, with the aim of promoting capitalist culture and ideas, especially the glorification of Western civilization, and more specifically American capitalist values. By analyzing data and user behavior, algorithms are used to control the content displayed to them across digital platforms, such as social networks, search engines, etc., and are designed to feed individuals with content in line with values that support capitalist vision, policies and ideas.

For example, on most digital platforms, ads and promotional content are displayed that encourage individuals to buy more products, even when they don’t really need them. Capitalist values such as the eternity of private property, class inequality, individual success, wealth, consumption, and luxury lifestyles are also promoted as a criterion for “successful” lives. Another example is Google’s algorithms, which classify results according to market logic and paid advertising, not according to the social, intellectual or scientific significance of the content. When searching for concepts such as “success,” “self-development,” or even “happiness,” the first results appear to be associated with self-development companies, paid courses, and consumer advice based on individualism and profit, as opposed to the absence or marginalization of sober scientific analyses and leftist and progressive ideas, and even not showing them and in many cases directly or indirectly.

This directs the collective consciousness towards accepting these values as natural and inevitable. This is done in a gradual, soft and imperceptible manner over a long period of time, to the extent that most users of AI applications, including leftist and progressive thinkers, believe that they are neutral tools. This policy poses a grave danger to future generations, whose daily lives have become an integral part of AI, and these precise methods and policies contribute to the consolidation of capitalist hegemony and strengthen the loyalty and subservience of the masses to the existing order.

 Dismantling human skills and deepening alienation and digital alienation

In addition to the role played by artificial intelligence in reshaping public awareness, there is another dimension that has not been studied and framed in international laws, in light of the frantic race between major countries and monopolistic capitalist companies to dominate artificial intelligence markets, which is the negative impact of excessive reliance on artificial intelligence on human mental and creative abilities. The development of technology has become largely geared towards domination, profitability and competition for technical supremacy, without considering the profound effects of these transformations on humanity.

AI is touted as a way to make life easier and more productive, but reality reveals that an ill-considered reliance on these technologies may deepen superficial awareness and weaken basic human skills.  Over time, humans, especially new generations, may become less able to think critically, do calculations, write, and even communicate simple through messages, as a result of over-reliance on intelligent systems that carry out these tasks on their behalf.

In this context, human alienation is reproduced in a new digital form, where man is separated from his mental and creative faculties, and finds himself trapped in a technical system that robs him of his ability to act independently, just as the industrial worker was alienated from his product under traditional capitalism. It is possible that man gradually becomes a subject to algorithms that guide his daily interactions, determining what to read, what to see, and even how to think. This could lead to the creation of generations that lack the ability to interact with reality autonomously, as artificial intelligence becomes an essential intermediary between the individual, the world, and the outside environment, reinforcing its dependence on capital-controlled systems, corporations, and states.

This digital alienation is not limited to the productive aspect, but extends to a more dangerous level, which is the alienation of man from himself, from his consciousness, from his social relations, where his intellectual and cultural identity is transformed into a mere reflection of algorithms designed to serve the market.

The danger here is not limited to the loss of individual skills, but extends to the reshaping of collective consciousness in ways that are in line with the demands of the capitalist market. It weakens the ability of individuals to organize, resist, and demand radical change, by gradually pushing them into individual digital isolation, in which human interactions are reduced to platforms that control the flow of information and reshape social relations to serve the logic of domination.

Digital addiction

In this context, digital addiction emerges as one of the most serious effects of the expansion of artificial intelligence, as a scientific study conducted by researchers at the University of California in 2020 indicates that the excessive use of digital platforms and social media that rely on artificial intelligence algorithms causes changes in the brain similar to those caused by drug addiction, specifically in the areas responsible for making decisions and controlling behavior, as these algorithms are specifically designed to attract the attention of users and keep them connected for as long as possible.

Social media, entertainment apps, and other digital systems are not just platforms for services, but tools that are consciously used to promote behavioral and intellectual dependency, where big data is exploited to understand individuals’ motivations and manipulate them in ways that serve the economic interests of corporations and large countries. This digital addiction is not limited to wasting time or affecting productivity, but extends to creating a new type of alienation as a result of addiction, as individuals gradually lose their ability to live outside the digital framework. This can lead to poor concentration, decreased problem-solving skills, and impaired memory and direct human communication.

Capitalism exploits this addiction in multiple ways, investing in the development of technologies that stimulate addictive behavior to ensure that users continue to interact continuously with digital platforms in various forms, and this process turns into a vicious circle, where profits are generated by keeping individuals in a permanent state of passive consumption, which enhances its profits at the expense of mental and psychological health, especially among younger generations, and this may gradually erode their ability to think independently and work together.

A type of voluntary digital slavery

 Class dominance deepens through the transformation of artificial intelligence from a technological tool into a means of reproducing patterns of social, political, and economic control. The continuation of this model could lead to humanitarian disasters, as humans gradually lose their ability to face complex challenges and become hostage to technologies controlled by capitalist elites and major powers.

What makes this control even more dangerous is its voluntary nature, whereby individuals are driven by algorithmic manipulation and a desire for convenience to engage in this digital slavery without direct coercion. Man is given the illusion of control and choice, while his decisions are imperceptibly directed towards pre-orchestrated paths that serve the interests of capitalism. This submission does not stem from conscious conviction, but from an increasing reliance on technologies that constitute an artificial alternative to human relationships and autonomous mental processes, resulting in a state of digital dispossession, where individuals identify With their control tools instead of resisting it.

If this dynamic continues without a collective confrontation based on a progressive leftist consciousness, the current AI may gradually shift from a tool in the hands of capitalism to an alternative system of the human mind, through which daily life is managed, imposing a new form of voluntary digital slavery, in which individuals become trapped within technological systems that define their roles and behaviors, restrict their ability to make their decisions independently, and even push them to accept this domination as an inevitable reality that cannot be bypassed.

Machine rebellion and AI’s domination of humanity

Future projections have always painted pictures of a world in which humanity is controlled by a machine, where man loses control of the technology he has created, becoming a mere cog in a system that is not subject to his will, but serves the interests of the dominant powers. This scenario, which in the past was only philosophical assumptions or cinematic perceptions in science fiction films, is now more realistic in light of the tremendous developments of artificial intelligence and the absence of any effective international legal controls that regulate and frame its work.

One of the major and serious problems posed by the development of artificial intelligence is the possibility of developing itself beyond human intelligence, and turning it into an autonomous entity, beyond the control of humans, and even controlling them. As it transcends its original programming limits, artificial intelligence may become a system that makes fateful decisions independently, imposed on humanity in the economy, politics, daily life and others, without any human control. Under capitalism, artificial intelligence is being developed to serve the accumulation of capital and promote class domination and is subject to the logic of fierce competition, which makes losing control over it possible, potential, and dangerous, especially as it develops at a tremendous speed that exceeds the speed of its organization and framing within international laws and societal controls. It is designed as a tool with immense capabilities without any “cage” that limits its impunity if it is misused or spiraled out of control, which may turn it into an independent force that acts against the interests of society rather than serving it.

This scenario was no stranger to cinema, as many films addressed this idea, such as “The Destructor”, where machines start a war against humans after artificial intelligence reaches a level of self-awareness, “Matrix”, which shows a world in which humanity is enslaved by artificial intelligence that uses humans as energy sources, and “I, Robot”, which discusses the idea of robots rebelling against humans after they have acquired independent thinking abilities. The AI “rebellion” will not be just a fictional scenario, but its consequences will be reflected in policies imposed through digital systems, without any regard for human needs. What we are witnessing today is not the domination of robots over humans in the classical form imagined so far, but may evolve into a new model of digital control, based on comprehensive automation and algorithmic control of daily life, where societies become entities managed and controlled by intelligent systems and machines.

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