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Sam Altman's speech is hollow, lacking substance and political reflection. He talks about "prosperity," but does not address its fair distribution. For example, our current global agriculture produces enough food for all of humanity, but that does not prevent people from starving, partly because we waste food, but also because we inefficiently feed non-human animals with this food, and then eat the animals. Artificial intelligence can, in the same way, result in increased inequalities, despite supposedly growing "prosperity." If we continue within a neoliberal capitalist system, which is the current trajectory in most countries, especially in the United States, the fruits of the labor of robots, artificial intelligences, and consequently the increase in labor productivity, will end up almost entirely in the pockets of a minority of shareholders, rather than benefiting all of humanity, as is already the case. We already have charts showing that productivity growth outpaces median wage growth, which indicates that wealth is concentrating in the hands of a minority, which overall harms our society. In a nutshell, his speech seems more like a fundraising pitch to convince shareholders than the speech of someone reflecting on artificial intelligence as a means of human emancipation.


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