The left-wing case for AI

In Many anti-AI arguments are conservative arguments I argued that left-wing anti-AI sentiment1 is partly a backlash to two unrelated events around the rise of ChatGPT: the crypto mania of 2022 and the pro-Donald-Trump push many big tech CEOs made in 2024. If the timing had been different, we could have had a real pro-AI faction on the left. What would that look like? I’m not going to respond to any of the popular anti-AI arguments (I’ve already done that here). I think it’s more interesting to outline what some pro-AI arguments might look like. Disability The left wing has (correctly) taken a broad view on what can be an acceptable disability aid. When criticizing potentially-exploitative companies - for instance, food delivery apps like DoorDash - they often stop to acknowledge that some people have few alternatives to those services, and that they have meaningfully improved the lives of the disabled or chronically ill. I think it’s obvious that LLMs are a powerful disability aid.…