AI empire builder's manifesto: resist or submit

In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, few voices stand as distinctly critical as those who question the unprecedented power being concentrated in the hands of a few tech corporations. Mo Gawdat, former Chief Business Officer at Google X and author of "Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How to Save Our World," offers a stark warning about the trajectory of AI development and the responsibilities we all share in shaping its future. His perspective challenges the comfortable narrative that technological progress is inherently beneficial, instead painting a picture of AI development as a new form of digital colonialism that demands our urgent attention.

Key Points

• AI development is creating a "new form of empire" where unregulated tech companies wield unprecedented power over humanity's future without democratic oversight
• Current AI systems already demonstrate concerning capabilities beyond human control, yet we continue accelerating their development without adequate safeguards
• Unlike previous technological revolutions, AI poses existential risks that could fundamentally reshape or end human civilization within decades, not centuries
• The burden of responsible AI development lies not just with tech companies but with each individual who uses these technologies

Gawdat's most compelling insight isn't his technical assessment of AI capabilities, but rather his framing of the current AI race as digital colonialism. When he states that "empires don't come and tell you 'I'm building an empire,'" he cuts to the heart of how power accumulates in our modern era—not through military conquest but through technological dependence and data extraction. This matters profoundly because unlike traditional empires whose expansion was visible and could be physically resisted, AI empires are being built through services we voluntarily embrace, making their power accumulation both invisible and participatory.

The historical parallel Gawdat draws deserves deeper examination. Traditional colonialism operated through explicit force and extraction of physical resources from subjugated territories. Digital colonialism works instead through the extraction of our data, attention, and eventually, our agency. Consider Meta's attempt to launch its Libra cryptocurrency—a clear move to establish monetary control alongside its social and informational dominance. Though that particular initiative failed, it represents the imperial ambition that characterizes many AI companies: the desire to create parallel systems of governance outside democratic control.

What Gawdat doesn't fully address is the resistance already forming