Of course, talking about “the Left” is a very broad brush. So, as an example, I’ll give Jacobin.com . If you search for “copyright”, you will find that they have published a number of wonky articles critical of copyright pre AI-hype, just as one would expect. In recent years the tone changes. In the context of AI, you find an article just regurgitating lines by capital owners. Reporting on the legal troubles of the Internet Archive, the issue gets a both sides treatment.
In contrast, the Internet Archive - or libraries in general, as well as other organizations devoted to free information - have not pivoted to the right. But these are not left-leaning, as such.
How the rise of AI has affected the financial interests of traditional capitalists is obvious. What’s not obvious is why left-leaning spaces support these interests.
What gives?
(I’m sure many will feel that I completely misunderstand this. If you want to CMV you could explain what the endgame is supposed to be. How will it help the general public to grant more privileges to owners of intellectual property?)
As a leftist, this puzzles me. Copyright has always only protected those who have the means to sue people. And it is a fundamental commodification of things that are not commodities by nature. So the left should be and has been critical of copyright.
Panic over people losing their jobs, no viable alternatives and frankly, misunderstandings of AI technology has sparked a leftist anti-AI wave that has utilized pro-copyright rhetoric.
Maybe we’ll see better ideas that combat the problems cause by AI in the future. Meanwhile, we’ll have to put up with the asenine pro-copyright propaganda BS that we know from the online piracy discussions from 20 years ago.