“The end of labor means the end of paid slavery. And the opening up of freedom — that is to say, choice of how to spend your time. The only question, a big question, is how do you eat?” — Keith Teare

Does capitalism have a future in our AI age? For Musk, Silicon Valley’s baddest bad entrepreneur, the answer might surprise. Musk seems to think that in the long run, money and wealth will disappear in an age of abundant intelligence. Which, presumably, will include hundreds of billions of his own dollars. Although given Musk’s determination to sue and take money from OpenAI, some might be slightly sceptical of his real faith in a post-money cornucopia.

It’s not just Musk and That Was the Week publisher Keith Teare who are reimagining capitalism in our AI age. The former World Bank chief economist, Branko Milanovic, drawing on Karl Marx and Adam Smith in equal measure, argues that if AI eliminates the labor component of production, things will become free — thereby creating the conditions for the destruction of capitalism. Keith agrees — and goes further than Milanovic. The end of paid labor, he insists, borrowing also from Marx, is not a catastrophe. It’s the end of what he calls “paid slavery” and the opening of genuine freedom.

I’m not so sure. If nobody has to work, we’ll all become bad artists. The cult of the amateur. The future is of bad entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and even worse artists. Hyper-capitalism in our age of AI.

Five Takeaways

• The Musk-OpenAI Trial: Big Yawn. Jury rejected the claim in under two hours — statute of limitations, not the merits. Two weeks of trial, millions in lawyers’ fees, nothing resolved. The real question of who owns OpenAI post-conversion was never going to be answered here.

• Sam Altman’s Credibility Problem. The Times called it a takeaway. Keith’s response: not new information. What’s interesting is that Musk and Altman, despite everything, share more beliefs about where AI is going than almost anyone else. Stalin vs Hitler. Keith picks Stalin, 100 times out of 100.

• Krugman on Europe: Right Analysis. GDP per capita understates European quality of life — a third of US income buys more than a third of lifestyle in Europe. Healthcare, education, travel, housing all cheaper. Keith agrees — but adds: Europe’s structural hostility to innovation means it can maintain its lifestyle but not grow it.

• Milanovic’s AI Thesis: Things Approach Free. If AI eliminates the labor component of production, value in the classical sense disappears. Costs tend toward zero. Prices tend toward zero. Capitalism and its opposite begin to merge. Musk says the same thing. Keith agrees. Andrew remains unconvinced.

• The End of Paid Labor Is the End of Paid Slavery. Keith’s most provocative position. Not something to fear — it’s freedom. The question of how 8 billion people eat without paid work is real and large. But not inconceivable to solve. Andrew’s counter: if nobody has to work, we’ll all become bad artists.

About the Guest

Keith Teare is a British-American entrepreneur, investor, and publisher of the That Was the Week newsletter. He is a co-founder of TechCrunch.

References

That Was the Week by Keith Teare: thatwa.st
Branko Milanovic, “AI and the Future of Capitalism,” Substack
Paul Krugman, “Is Europe in Economic Decline?” NYT/Substack

About Keen On America

Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.

Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow

Chapters:

00:00:31 Back from Korea: Oakland jury rejects Musk
00:03:08 Keith’s verdict: big yawn
00:05:52 OpenAI IPO implications
00:06:52 Is Anthropic number one now?
00:08:01 Sam Altman’s credibility problem
00:09:00 Stalin vs Hitler
00:35:39 Krugman on Europe
00:38:09 Milanovic on AI and capitalism
00:43:25 End of paid slavery, opening of freedom
00:44:20 We’ll all become bad artists