Tech companies, and frankly, most of the knowledge work industry, have jumped at the opportunity to replace human workers with AI. This possibility was so enticing that they didn’t bother to wait to see if the technology’s promises were real. They may have shown their hand too soon. I believe that we are fortunate that AI-powered human equivalents aren’t coming anytime soon. Yes, there will be job disruption from AI, but I suspect it will be along the scale of what AI Snake Oil dubs “Normal Technology”. We should consider ourselves extremely fortunate if this turns out to be the case. It is clear that if companies can trade AI automation for human employees, they will. We shouldn’t squander this opportunity to take stock of the labor market and examine how we can shape the technology industry to benefit workers.
Working in the tech industry has always been my American Dream. It offered the promise that one could earn a good living with great perks and job security, all while contributing to the mission of improving the world. The demand for tech workers has consistently outpaced labor supply, which has held the deal favorable for a long time. Even with disruptions like global outsourcing, the scale of labor demand was largely enough to maintain strong benefits for tech workers.
We have come to believe we deserved this deal. We believed that we were special. We knew the deal for many non-knowledge work jobs was getting worse. We naively believed that wouldn’t apply to us; that we were different. If we are honest with ourselves, we believed we were better and deserved better. The culture of “meritocracy” taught us to think this way. The harsh lesson that we are learning now is that we are not special. You don’t get what you deserve; you get what you have the power to demand.
Systems of coercion and exploitation start with the most vulnerable populations and work their way up the chain as they become normalized. If you’re a skilled knowledge worker, it could be hard to imagine yourself in the shoes of a warehouse worker under constant surveillance who has to pee in a bottle to avoid falling behind. The reality is that only the market demand for your labor separates you from that fate. If they could, they would.
All humans deserve the right to work with dignity. Tech workers have it in their own self-interest to advocate for all labor. Exploitative labor practices may feel distant today, but there is only a thin veil separating us from the same fate.
Right now, the job market is not kind in the world of tech. I believe that will change in the coming years, although we will likely endure some more pain in the interim. I implore you to remember the harsh lessons that the GenAI boom is now teaching us. You are not special. You get what you can demand. Exploitation of any labor is a threat to all labor.
This is all a lot. What can one do? With everything, awareness is an important first step. Once you acknowledge your own vulnerability, you will be forced to care more about the fate of “lower tier” workers. Many of us turn a blind eye to the damage caused by our same-day delivery orders, Uber rides, and other such conveniences. We can try to support companies with better track records. In practice, this is often impractical or even impossible due to massive consolidation. Systemic issues need systemic solutions.
Here are a few ideas that seem reasonable to me that you can mull over:
Capitalism vs Feudalism
You might be under the illusion that Big Tech operates within an efficient market economy, aka capitalism. Cory Doctorow’s Enshittification explains that what we really have is techno-feudalism. Lax enforcement of anti-competition regulations has allowed large companies to dominate entire sectors. They no longer need to compete by making the best product, at the best price; they can simply charge whatever rent they choose for whatever quality service they deem we will tolerate. Competition, according to Peter Thiel, is “inefficient”. When companies buy up each other, they reduce duplicate roles. When you have competition, each company needs its own instance of each role. That means there are more jobs, which is better for labor. Competition also means that if you as a worker don’t like your deal, you can move to a different company in the same industry, giving you more bargaining power. Inefficient for them, empowering for us. All we need to do is to enforce the laws that already exist.
Capital vs Labor Taxes
There is a great example from Power and Progress that illustrates how system effects can provide a financial incentive for businesses to favor capital investments over people if the productivity gains are comparable. $100,000 invested in capital is taxed at 5% while $100,000 in payroll is taxed at 25%. Bringing these rates into more balance, or even into the favor of labor, would drastically reduce the incentive to automate work with capital investments.
Wealth Taxes
Why do we need billionaires? Frankly, they seem like the root of many of our current problems. Taxing wealth beyond a certain limit reduces the oversized influence of a select few and can finance social programs and safety nets. This is not unprecedented in US history. More Everything Forever points out that in 1953, incomes above $300,000 were taxed at 92%. Becker illustrates an example of capping wealth at $500 million, “enough to spend $3,000 a day for 100 years and still have nearly $400 million left over.” My home state of Massachusetts implemented a similar change recently, which resulted in a surplus budget to fund state services.
Labor Organization
Collective bargaining helps level the playing field for workers. It also gives labor a say in the direction that we will develop technology. Unions have a far from perfect track record, which includes racism and corruption, but when they function well, they provide protective friction. Yes, friction slows down innovation at times. That isn’t always a bad thing when you need to take time to thoughtfully consider the impact of a decision. Even though tech is largely ununionized, we do have workers councils in some countries. Those councils are effective at providing protection and bargaining power to their members.
Labor Classification
The gig economy, in theory, offers a win-win situation where employers can utilize flexible capacity and workers are their own bosses. In practice, it is often coercive and opens a loophole that allows employers to avoid providing the benefits that they are legally required to give their employees. Gig workers are often subject to the highest degree of surveillance, algorithmic compensation, and automated control. More aggressive regulation could provide gig workers with the rights that they deserve.
Big Tech is enabling a few elites to guide society down a path that benefits them and hurts most of us. Technological determinism is the idea that innovation and progress are predetermined. Technology already exists, and it is only a matter of time before it is discovered. That doesn’t have to be the path we follow, but it will only be different if we choose a different way.