The Dark Side of Data Analysis Tools: A Marxist Perspective on Artificial Intelligence

The development of artificial intelligence has been one of the most significant technological advancements in recent years, with many hailing it as a revolutionary force that will transform human life. However, others have raised concerns about its potential impact on jobs, privacy, and even humanity itself. The question is not whether AI is good or evil, but rather what kind of system underlies its development, who owns this technology, for what purpose it is used, and in whose social class interests it operates.

The technological revolution has the potential to free human beings from arduous and repetitive work, reduce working hours, and increase productivity. This could lead to an improvement in everyone’s quality of life. Karl Marx recognized that technology was capable of serving society as a whole if used rationally and fairly. However, he also noted that under capitalism, technology is primarily employed to maximize profits and accumulate capital.

The problem with AI is not the technology itself but rather the relations of production that control it. Under capitalism, large corporations use AI to serve their interests at the expense of workers and society. The evidence for this can be seen in the rise of generative AI tools between 2022 and 2024. Tens of thousands of writers, designers, and translators have lost their contracts with companies not because they are less competent but because the algorithm is cheaper.

The use of AI has led to a transformation of intellectual production into a cheap commodity to increase profit margins. Companies such as CNET replaced their journalists with AI models to write articles, followed by BuzzFeed and others. This phenomenon can be observed in several manifestations including the dismissal of workers or reduction of wages through automation, increased surveillance of employees governed by algorithms, monopolization of data and knowledge by giant technology companies, and concentration of wealth and technological power in the hands of a small number of global monopolies.

A worker in an Amazon warehouse does not face a human manager but rather an algorithm that measures performance by the second, determines their picking quota, and automatically issues termination warnings if productivity declines. This has been documented by journalists from The Verge and The Guardian in extensive reports on what is known as ‘algorithmic management.’ Instead of humanity controlling technology, people begin adapting to the rhythm of the machine, living to serve it rather than the other way around.

The Marxist analysis of imperialism and monopoly suggests that the continuous development of capitalism leads to the concentration of capital in the hands of a small minority. This results in artificial intelligence becoming part of a global monopolistic system instead of being used as a means of improving human lives. Marxists also connect AI to the concept of ‘alienation.’ Under capitalism, workers become separated from both their labor and its product.

The feeling of alienation intensifies with technological development as people are transformed into mere appendages of machines, algorithms, and digital systems. This is precisely the danger posed by complete reliance on artificial intelligence without self-development or critical thinking. It may lead human beings to a state of intellectual laziness and cognitive dependence. Major capitalist elites seek to turn technology into an instrument that weakens individuals’ capacity for analysis and independent thought.

The issue with AI extends beyond labor and economic exploitation, also affecting the environment and natural resources. Modern artificial intelligence requires massive data centers that consume enormous amounts of electricity and water to cool servers. Additionally, rare minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and copper are extracted for manufacturing electronic chips. The extraction of these materials has devastating consequences on local communities.

For example, approximately 70% of the world’s cobalt is extracted from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Amnesty International has documented child labor in these mines where children under 12 work in deadly conditions for a few dollars a day while profits flow through supply chains ending at Apple, Samsung, and Nvidia headquarters. Lithium extraction operations deplete groundwater in Chile’s Atacama Desert and displace Indigenous communities from their ancestral lands.

The picture is not much different when it comes to data. Large AI models are trained on user-collected data without compensating them, then sold at prices that governments in the Global South cannot afford. Africa, South Asia, and Latin America export minerals, data, and human labor while importing a monopolized product over which they have no control.

The question is not only whether artificial intelligence consumes vast resources but also why these resources are consumed, who decides how to use them, and who bears the real cost of consumption? Marxists argue that capitalism treats nature as an open source of profit rather than as the foundation for sustaining human life. Production under capitalism is organized according to profitability and competition.

As a result, enormous resources may be wasted on applications whose primary objective is increasing profits such as targeted advertising, financial speculation, consumer surveillance, and corporate races toward monopoly while millions suffer from shortages of water, electricity, and basic services. This does not mean that communists reject technology or industrial development due to energy consumption but rather the chaotic and unplanned use of resources.

The subordination of technology to profit logic places a burden on poor peoples and workers to bear pollution costs and resource extraction. The transformation of scientific progress into a monopolistic instrument instead of collective possession weakens humanity’s capacity for analysis and independent thought. As long as the value of technology is measured by profits generated rather than what it contributes to humanity, the real question will not be ‘How far will artificial intelligence develop?’ but who owns this development and who pays its price?