But AI is not on the verge of being introduced, it has been introduced into every sector of the economy possible, and the balance sheets are coming up wanting. Last year MIT conducted a study of over 300 firms and found that 95% of them saw no return whatsoever on their investment in AI. British firm PricewaterhouseCoopers reported in its 29th annual CEO survey that over half of respondents had seen no benefit from AI whatsoever, either in the form of reduced costs or higher revenue.

Despite these gloomy reports and increasing fears that the dramatic overvaluation of the tech companies tied into the AI boom is a financial bubble waiting to pop, the tech moguls are still demanding more investment. For the most part, they are getting that investment, whether into sprawling new data centers or the power stations to keep them online. While cultural backlash to AI “slop” is becoming more and more widespread, it is clear that the capitalist class still sees AI as the future.

In trying to understand why, it is important to disaggregate the hype of AI’s most shameless salesmen, like Sam Altman or Elon Musk, from the actual capabilities of the technology. Essentially at its core all of what we see called “AI” is just a series of mathematical equations whose parameters are set by a combination of pre-existing data and manual rules set by its designers. The process of “training” AI can be likened to feeding paper into a shredder that can then recombine the letters and words to form new sentences. The AI is “incentivized” to make “good” sentences, which tends to mean ones that look like a human could have written them. The same goes for photos, videos, or music: all the AI is doing is regurgitating something it was already fed.

Throughout the entirety of the process, then, human labor still plays the essential role. Humans need to make the works to be fed to the AI in the first place, because if AI is trained on AI generated data it begins to “rot” and produce increasingly poor results. Then humans need to design the mathematical procedures for the AI to be “trained,” and humans often have to intervene forcefully to prevent the AI from breaking the law (by relaying legally sensitive information like how to make explosives or creating images of illegal activity like CSAM). Then, to create the final generated product, the AI needs to be prompted to do so by a human, who needs to write the prompt in such a way that the machine gives them the output they want. The value that AI possesses is the value of embodied human labor within it.

This is plainly not what capitalists believe. They think that AI carries in it the same unique capacity that only human labor power possesses: the ability to create new value beyond that which it cost to produce it. Capitalists do not understand that, out of the portion of capital they advance for means of production, and out of the portion of capital they advance for labor power, it is only the latter that creates new value in excess of that initial advance. To them, it simply appears as a profit in excess of the total cost they paid. While AI’s mystification is particularly intense, the capitalist class has never understood this fact about any machine, or indeed about their entire mode of production: the origin of profit is in the unpaid labor time of workers.

It is no coincidence that AI investment and speculation took off in the last five years, in the wake of COVID’s disruptions and the growing power and militancy of the labor movement that emerged out of them. Capitalists are desperate for the next big technological innovation to save them from the contradictions of capitalism, as Mr. Andreessen himself admitted last month. “If we didn't have AI, we'd be in a panic right now about what's going to happen to the economy,” he said on a podcast, claiming that “declining population” (a racist dog whistle he uses alongside Elon Musk) and “slow productivity growth” would be the “real crisis” that AI is thankfully solving.

What he is facing up to is the idea that without populations of “surplus” human beings to form the reserve army of the unemployed, and with the rate of profit falling continuously as more and more capital becomes advanced and embodied in machines that merely transfer value and do not create it, that capitalists are dinosaurs living on borrowed time. As they look up at the meteor of class struggle and socialism plummeting towards them, they are conjuring phantasms and trying to breathe life into them with dollars and electricity. AI can be a useful tool, a means of production like any other, but it will not save capitalism from itself.

#WestLafayetteIN #IN #Commentary #Opinion #CapitalismAndEconomy #AI

West Lafayette, IN – On Monday, March 2, over 30 protesters gathered in front of the Armory on Purdue University campus to protest the illegal war on Iran by the United States and the apartheid state Israel.

The protest was held in front of the Armory because that is where Purdue ROTC is based, where military recruiting takes place on campus, and is a longstanding symbol of the militarization of the academy. Purdue University has strong, historical ties with major military contractors and eagerly pushes engineering students to work for these companies after graduation through a well-established pipeline. 

The protest was organized by the Purdue chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), with support from the Purdue chapter of YDSA. Speakers were invited from SDS, YDSA, and the West-Lafayette Revolutionary Student Front

SDS member Tavish Bryan led the protest with chants including, “From Iran to Palestine, killing children is a crime!” “No more sanctions, no more wars! We won’t stay quiet anymore!” and “Trump wants war, Trump wants oil! Hands off Iranian soil!”

“I'm a teacher, and one of my students asked me today, 'Mr. Tavish, did World War III just start?' and I didn't know what to say to them. Can you imagine what the students in Minab would be asking? They might be asking the people who are still alive, 'Why are all of my friends dead?'” Bryan said, referring to the elementary school bombed by the U.S. on the first day of the war.

Protester Ellen Newkirk Jahoda stated, “As someone who's constantly scared of something like a school being shot up, the idea of your school being bombed is just terrible, especially when [schools] are supposed to be a safe space for everyone.”

Purdue has already been implicated in attacks on Iran before this war even began with its illegal, de facto admissions ban of graduate students from China, Russia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Cuba, and most notably, Iran. Graduate students from these countries have already been deported in some cases, creating an atmosphere of dread and terror among those left. 

This ban is spearheaded by the bootlicking Provost Patrick J. Wolfe, who explicitly stated that he will not sign the final admissions for any graduate students from these countries. The university wants to have its cake and eat it too. By leaving the policy unwritten it hopes to leave intact its progressive bona fides and attraction of international talent, while also maintaining servility to the Trump administration.

The provost and his ilk cannot hide behind verbal instructions and closed doors forever, because every day more and more people wake up knowing they must dismantle the war machine in all its forms.

If you want to join that fight, contact SDS at Purdue on Instagram, or join our weekly planning meetings, held at Haas Hall room 101.

#WestLafayetteIN #IN #PurdueSDS #SDS #AntiWarMovement #StudentMovement #Iran

West Lafayette, IN – On Monday, January 12, over 100 protesters gathered at the busy intersection of State Street and Northwestern Avenue just outside of Purdue University campus to protest and grieve the brutal murders of Renee Nicole Good and Keith Porter, and the killings of Johnny Noviello and Ismael Ayala Urribr, who died in ICE detention from criminal medical neglect.

The protest was organized by the Purdue chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) with attendance from Purdue Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), Greater Lafayette Democratic Socialists of America (GLDSA), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Greater Lafayette Immigrant Allies, and United Tippecanoe Rapid Response Network (UTRRN).

SDS member Reed Stoerck opened the protest, citing the furious anger at the murder of Good and Porter, and the killings of Uribe and Noviello, that have brought people out to the streets, and called on everyone to get organized.

The crowd, composed of students and community members, was impassioned and loud, gathering the attention of people on their commutes home, chanting “IDF, KKK, ICE, they’re all the same!” and “Jonathan Ross is a? Murderer!”

“In her glove compartment, there were no weapons, no explosives, but stuffed animals. Is this what a domestic terrorist would have in their glove compartment?” said Vincent Ferro, a Purdue freshman from Minneapolis who witnessed the cold-blooded murder of Renee Nicole Good. “What's been going on in Minnesota is absolutely just disgusting. It's heartbreaking.”

Melissa Hernandez, a Purdue student, told the crowd, while in tears, “My parents have been waiting 20 years for papers in this country. Never once have they committed a crime!” adding, “They are people too! They are human! They have emotions! We will not live like this and take it anymore!”

Another speaker, who identified themselves as undocumented, said, “I’m an illegal immigrant— I’m not scared to say that – I would like to thank you guys for coming out here. You guys are doing great. If you guys are scared of ICE, just know that we do have a God, and God is by our side, so do not be scared.”

The overall message of the night was to fight despair, get organized, and unite. Many speakers encouraged people to remain vigilant and fight complacency, with others calling for unity and organization.

ICE remains a constant threat to our lives and communities. The best way to fight back is to get organized. Purdue SDS will be hosting a new member meeting at Mad Mushroom on State Street, Thursday, January 22, at 5:30 p.m. Follow us @sdsatpurdue on Instagram.

#WestLafayetteIN #IN #ImmigrantRights #ReneeGood #SDS

West Lafayette, IN – On Monday, July 7, after months of dedicated community action, the West Lafayette city council voted unanimously to pass a resolution protecting gender-affirming care.

After a months-long campaign, a resolution to protect gender-affirming care was brought to a vote at Monday's city council meeting. Months before the vote, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) organized a rally outside the city council building to demand that the resolution be put on the agenda. Following up on this action, members of FRSO and the community met with city council members to discuss the resolution. FRSO mobilized the community to speak at the June 2 city council meeting in support of the resolution. All of this led up to Monday, when more than 40 people, all carrying trans flags, packed the house.

Among those 40 people were representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana (ACLU), Pride Lafayette, Greater Lafayette Democratic Socialists of America, Standing Up for Racial Justice, and the FRSO. All showed up to urge the city council to pass the resolution despite nationwide attacks on transgender people.

“The rights of queer Hoosiers are coming under increasing attack by those who would deny our very existence and use our existence, especially those of our trans siblings, as a wedge issue to sow division and hatred,” said executive director of Pride Lafayette Derrick Jones.

The resolution officially recognizes gender-affirming care as a valid form of medical care and protects both providers and patients. Despite this, the resolution cannot overturn existing state and federal legislation. Regardless of the limitations of the resolution, both the city council and the community recognized its power.

Samantha Bresnahan of the ACLU Indiana said the resolution, “serves as an important safeguard for access to gender-affirming care. Through our work, we’ve seen firsthand the harm caused by the growing number of attacks on the transgender community. Not just here in Indiana, but across the country. These attacks have come in many more forms: executive orders, court rulings, new state laws—including here in Indiana, and regulatory changes. Together they form a broader effort to push transgender people out of public and civic life.”

“To the point of this being a small measure. I don’t think it is. Like the woman before me said, it can’t change the law, but it’s an important step in showing that this is a fight, an uphill battle we should be willing to take on,” said Jack Nowinski, a local community member.

Applause filled the room after each of the 13 speakers made a public comment, and as the city council made its vote, in unanimous support of the resolution.

“The city of West Lafayette has just affirmed any unnecessary legal action against providers or receivers of gender-affirming care is going to be a low priority,” said AJ Dunn, a member of FRSO.

The fight is not over. In 2024, the city of Bloomington passed a similar resolution, and FRSO, with the support of the people, has set a goal to bring this resolution to the greater Lafayette area and the city of Kokomo. The people of West Lafayette have shown us what is possible when we stand up and fight for our rights. No matter the attacks from the Trump administration and attacks from Indiana state legislators, the people refuse to back down.

FRSO holds monthly meetings at the West Lafayette Public Library and the main branch of the Kokomo Howard County Public Library. Follow us on Instagram and email us at frsoindiana@gmail.com to sign up for our newsletter.

#WestLafayetteIN #IN #LGBTQ #Trans