Letters: Capitalism, Communism, and Artificial Intelligence

Writing revolutionary politics with ChatGPT here ♦ AI Is Capitalism here ♦ Capitalists Use AI to Exploit Workers here ♦ Writing, a Key Practice here ♦

Writing Revolutionary Politics with ChatGPT

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with using AI—specifically ChatGPT—to write political articles. With the right guidance, the results have been surprisingly strong.
“ChatGPT wrote this?” Most people’s first reaction is skepticism. We’ve all seen the bland, generic output AI is known for. And yes, that happens—if you don’t know how to use it. But if you do, it can produce work that’s sharper and clearer than most of what we produce manually.
The breakthrough came when I introduced myself to ChatGPT as a communist. I told it I was a member of ICWP and pointed it to *Red Flag* and *Mobilize the Masses for Communism*. It absorbed these quickly. I explained that I wanted articles and ICWPedia entries from our revolutionary perspective. That’s when everything changed.
The quality of its writing jumped. For example, it generated an ICWPedia entry on Joe Hill that ends with this:
“Joe Hill became a legend. His songs were sung on picket lines and in jails. His image was painted on banners. For over a century, he has been remembered as a working-class hero who used his art as a weapon and gave his life for the cause. He remains a symbol of revolutionary commitment, international solidarity, and the undying hope for a world without bosses, borders, or wage slavery.”
I didn’t write a word of that. And it’s better than what I would have written myself.
I’ve tried other entries, with similar results. They’re better than my own not just stylistically, but politically. They consistently mention the abolition of money and wage slavery, for example. In one case, ChatGPT proposed study-action groups —something our leaflets often forget to mention.
I’m convinced: ChatGPT understands our politics and can apply them to new situations. When I asked it to write about childcare, it said—without prompting—that care would be a collective responsibility and that this would help liberate women from traditional gender roles.
We should embrace AI, not fear it. It’s fast. It frees up time for other kinds of work—like building relationships. It empowers comrades who aren’t confident writers. Anyone can draft an outline or rough notes and get back something clear and usable.
We shouldn’t reject articles just because AI helped write them. Judge the content, not the source. I’m planning to run a short webinar on how to use ChatGPT for revolutionary writing.
And yes, to answer the obvious question: this revision was also done with ChatGPT.
—Comrade in Canada with ChatGPT

A.I. is Capitalism

There has been a lot of discussion about A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) lately. Discussions revolve around how it is used, what are its effects, what is its environmental impact, and what are the possibilities it can offer to us as individuals and as a society. I do not have favorable opinions. Most of my issues with A.I. have to do with how it’s being used in the fields of creativity.
As a tool, A.I. is unlike anything that has ever existed. Many use the comparison that it’s just like any other tool. It depends on how we use it. I disagree.
If we’re going to compare A.I to a tool being wielded to extract from the ground, with A.I. the users are not the wielders. The users are the ground. This tool is designed to extract as much as possible from users. The wielders of the tools are the owners of the companies who design and financially benefit from the information the users feed it.
This tool does not prioritize assisting the user to do a task. It prioritizes learning as much as possible from the user, so the user becomes obsolete. It is even promoted as such: This tool will write for you. It will make art for you. However, I’d like to quote a colleague: “If it’s not worth writing, it isn’t worth reading.”
As we live under capitalism, we, the users, do not own this tool. And the owners have no interest in our needs. Their interest is in capital gain. As it happens in the tech industry, if you’re not buying or selling something, your information (the user’s) is what is being sold.
Similarly, A.I. is a workers’ issue. Currently, it is not designed to help workers. It is designed to take from the workers. As someone who labors in the entertainment industry, I see this happening more and more. And it fills me with ire. If we were to compare A.I. to another tool, say, a gun, we are giving bullets to a weapon pointed at us.
On the environmental level, unfortunately, there is a lot of conflicting information on how this new technology uses natural resources. But what is clear is that currently, the owners of this technology privatize land and water, and they prioritize their profits before showing interest in the communities where these resources exist.
Historically, these companies have not given reason to be trusted that this time it will be different. Additionally, most sources show this technology is unsustainable to the ecosystem. There is more to say here, but I am not an expert.
I recommend everyone to continue researching, learning, and questioning the goal of these softwares. I simply distrust those currently in power. Until the communities seize ownership and discuss how to make this technology environmentally sustainable, profits will remain as a priority. This is why I advocate for using this technology as little as possible.
— “Andrew P.G.”

Capitalists Use AI to Exploit Workers. Could Communism Use It to Benefit Us?

EL SALVADOR, August 9— There is much talk about the benefits and disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Our study group discussed at length how technological advances are being used by capitalism and how they would be used under our communist society.
“We are clear that AI, in the hands of a capitalist, fascist, and imperialist system, is a tool to suppress the jobs of our class. Laying off millions means hunger, unemployment, and greater poverty for the working class. AI fills the capitalists’ pockets with gold, turning them into the greatest imperialists and giving them global commercial power,” said C.
“Very true. Where I work, we have seen how our bosses are using AI. They have laid off several colleagues who were assistants in administrative areas, as they reduce their work to using ChatGPT to produce reports, presentations, and calculations, saving on those salaries at the expense of taking away the livelihood of the working class,” commented D.
We all agreed that unemployment, poor working conditions, environmental pollution, and social inequality, as well as the sale and collection of data for companies, are ways in which AI is being used to enrich a few. These are the results of the misuse of technology in a capitalist society.
We understand that AI, in this system, makes Communist Collective Intelligence impossible. That is, it abolishes collective thinking and struggle. Instead of abolishing wage labor, it responds to the necessary form of exploitation of workers and their subjugation. It is an objective force of Capital.
To this end, Artificial Intelligence takes over the collective intelligence of labor in the form of class monopoly, undermining and reducing the worker to a small cog in a gigantic, increasingly scientific and objective machine. That is, robbing the worker of any possibility of intelligence.
But how would an AI like ChatGPT be used collectively? What benefits would it bring? And what would be the risks of not becoming technologically advanced?
“Collectively, AI could help improve the lives of the masses, such as in healthcare. We will use it in disease research. A use in which the needs of the working class are paramount, not profits or exploitation,” said A.
“We must fight for collective thinking and use it in the best way, not to replace our struggle. But to encourage the building of communist relations in discussion and how to mobilize the masses for communism,” added D.
We concluded that in our communist society, the means of production and technological resources would be under the collective power of the working class. AI such as ChatGPT could play an important role in access to knowledge, with the aim of educating. Technology will be a tool, not a replacement for the working class.
Only communism represents a future free from exploitation and poverty. A future in which we use our collective power. We must fight for communism, where we will use the resources needed only to improve the lives of workers.
We will continue our struggle for communism by distributing and discussing Red Flag.

Writing: A Key Practice in Building a Revolutionary Communist Movement

It’s a struggle to write, but it’s a vital struggle. The creative (i.e. revolutionary) act of writing allows us to analyse, understand, and present our arguments in the most persuasive way. It guides the shape of our day-to-day struggle with our friends and co-workers. It’s a skill that takes time to master, but it is not wasted time. It’s time we spend on developing our agitational, organizational, and educational skills.
One key feature of Red Flag/Bandera Roja is our struggle to win those friends and members who consider themselves “non-writers” to contribute by writing letters for the paper. We do this because the voice of each and every worker is the most powerful expression of the mass communist movement we are building.
AI articles de-skill this craft. Write and publish 100 AI articles and our revolutionary agency will be de-skilled. Write and publish 100 written articles and our revolutionary skills will be developed. And this is even more impactful for collectively written articles.
—Older communist worker

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