World Socialist Web Site To Embrace AI

 In what can be seen as an unusual move of following the leader, WSWS has decided to create "Socialism AI," which promises to be, "a revolutionary tool that will harness artificial intelligence for the development of socialist consciousness in the international working class." David North compares its potential to the Encyclopedia, which "became an instrument for enlightenment that contributed to the French Revolution by making knowledge available to masses of people who had been kept in ignorance," and that Socialist AI can do the same if "properly developed and democratically controlled." All in all, the purpose is to "provide an accurate, thoroughly researched reply to critical issues which arise in the day to day struggles of the working class. It will answer questions posed by intellectuals, students, youth on a vast range of questions, and will give answers which reflect and express the interests of the working class."

I can't help but think that this will be a search engine with Trotskyist-infused Wikipedia as its information source, and if so, alright.   

But here's the question that come with such AI (which WSWS calls "augmented intelligence") endeavors: how does feed this beast without exploiting the works of others? Whether artificial or augmented, the key issue remains: it's not original, neither is it implicitly creative (i.e., "West Side Story" being inspired by "Romeo and Juliet" or "Hamilton" being a hip-hop induced, multi-cultural flavored rendition of the Founding Father's most noted moments in life and politics).  

To this point, member (for now; not everyone is keen on this) "Tony Williams" replied:

I am now part of an Author's Class Action suit against an A-I company that has copied three of my books without payment of royalties or contacting the publisher. It is not surprising that Trump, Bezos and Zuckerberg support this dangerous device and I will never support anyone who does. The device needs to be taken off the market and subjected to scientific analysis concerning its dangerous effects.

Sadly (and ironically) the response (from either David North himself or someone speaking on his behalf) was an "augmentation" of Matthew 16:26 ("For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his royalties?") which may not only indicate what the Socialist AI would look like, but proves that socialists will use the Bible when it fits their needs. 

But getting back to Tony's point: AI is already being used to steal the work and intellectual property of others, without compensating them for their labor, in the name of making something that can benefit all. But in truth, doesn't the owner of said AI benefit the most (not much was revealed on who the group responsible for "democratically controlling" the AI would be)? 

After all, the people never decided what was important enough to put in the first editions of the Encyclopedia (and even Wikipedia is heavily, heavily, monitored/edited to insure that certain narratives dominate others). Unless you can make sure that creators can hold on to/be compensated for their intellectual property, I don't see how this is that much different than the capitalist interpretation. 

(Maybe) tangent-related, but we should also be wary of "AI slop" diluting discourse (let alone infecting intellectual thought and reason).