Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins/Futurism. Source: Getty Images
In 2025, there are as many stories about AI as there are startups selling stuff. Will it change society? in a utopiaWill it free us from all responsibilities, or will it come to life and kill us all? And who benefits from those outcomes anyway?
According to distinguished sociologist Tracy MacMillan Cottam, the answer is clear: No matter how you slice it, the future of AI is for the rich.
“When people try to sell you on the idea that the future has already been decided, it’s because it is deeply unstable,” Cottom said in a recent panel At the Urban Consulate in Detroit. “I think that, you know, this promise of a future of artificial intelligence is really just a collective concern that very rich, powerful people have about how well they will be able to control us.”
“If they can get us to accept that the future has already been decided – AI is already here, the end is already here – then we will make it for them,” Cottam continued. “My boldest idea is to say no,” she said to applause.
Cottom cuts to the heart of the issue that both AI doomers and AI boosters take for granted: that an AI-dominated future is not inevitable.
Given that tech companies are operating on a growth plateau these days, a future built on large language models (LLMs) is far from locked. (For example, consider the fact that after the recent December update, ChatGPT couldn’t even produce an accurate alphabet poster for preschoolers.)
“The proposal of a post-human future is one where there will be humans who are treated inhumanely,” Cottam said. “We’re not going to stop making people or humans, they’re just saying we’re not going to treat you like humans. And I refuse. And I think we can all do that.”
Urban Consulate: Jason Reynolds and Tracy McMillan Cottam
Cottam points to the historical record – for example, the fact that chattel slavery was once seen as a predetermined fact of lifeA myth spread by the wealthiest members of that bygone era. He told the audience, “I think being black is an act of refusal, I think we know how to refuse.” “I think everyone else needs to learn this from us.”
And while Cottom’s argument is bleak – the idea that the world’s most powerful billionaires are using AI to gain complete control over humanity – he is nothing short of hopeful. “I think denial is actually a more optimistic, expansive vision of the future, not one that is telling us the future is already set and decided. That’s my bold view.”
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