reflections
Won’t somebody please think of the (AI) shareholders? by Zoe Rasbash
Illustration by Esther LalanneThis week I read Zoe’s piece about the consequences of rapid AI deployment by huge multi-national tech companies. The usual dire outcomes of mass disinformation and unregulated content are well-known, but is there a forgotten victim of our new AI era: shareholders?
huh?
It turns out that when large companies like Microsoft and Google absolutely botch the rollout of their shiny AI tools, they lose profits. BILL-yons in profit. Neat.
But without a grain of sympathy for profit loss (yawn), consider those who invest and subsequently lose money in companies due to business decisions to chase the AI unicorn. Are they a group that can be leveraged to enforce greater accountability in the giant, opaque structures of corporations?
Since they also have an incentive to encourage more responsible company practice, Zoe explores whether shareholders – those quintessential capitalist profit-seekers – could become unlikely allies for activists looking to curb the power of the corporate world.
profit junkies, but for good
Working with shareholders to enact change may not be that far-fetched. Indeed, the tactic has been used by UK charity ShareAction to influence action on workers’ rights. For instance, in 2022 they worked with unions to guide Sainsbury’s supermarket shareholders to support giving all London employees a living wage.
Through their financial stake, investors hold a lot of sway in a company, including electing its board. They have vast power and influence, perhaps more than we realise. As Zoe writes, “a world where governments roll over for Elon Musk and other corporate lobbyists, is a world where The Shareholders are our unelected global decision makers.”
Let’s be clear – this is not a good thing. Any amount of unchecked power is destined to lead to corruption and scandal. But at least leveraging the existing cracks in the corporate system, which often amounts to infighting over profit vs. innovation, is one method of pushing these industrial behemoths on climate, social justice or responsible tech use.
An important takeaway from this piece is not that ‘shareholder activism’ will save us from big tech’s machinations, and AI monstrosities like, say, Trump’s Gaza video (not linking it, you know the one). But it is something, one brushstroke in a masterpiece. Or one pixel in whatever the fuck AI slop your uncle just shared on Facebook.
Diversity of tactics is an important principle of left organising. Disparate groups fighting broadly towards the same goals – accountability, equality and ultimately liberation – can employ a range of approaches. There is no one single correct way – many methods co-exist and, indeed, end up complementing each other. Legal, peaceful, confrontational, direct. Inside and outside the system. That’s praxis baby!
Even enacting shareholder pressure on large companies can drive change, as Zoe has shown. This doesn’t mean stop organising those disruptive actions. It’s not an either/or. We need the streets and, under capitalism unfortunately, we could also use anything we can get in the boardrooms.
It is fitting that the example of shareholder pressure raising the wages of Sainsbury’s employees succeeded due to collaboration between the unions, the workers and media campaigns: “a constellation of pressure points.”
Collaborate, agitate. Hit the beast on all fronts. Big tech won’t be our saviours, but let’s exploit every weakness in the cohesion of capital. Maybe one day we can ‘hold shares’ in a just society???
~ Tommy
smirk of the week 😏
shado in focus
In this shado in focus episode, Luisa De la Concha Montes discusses what home and community is, via the campaign to save South London’s iconic Aylesbury estate from a disruptive redevelopment. Unfortunately, the demolition of the social housing complex has progressed since the original article was published, giving us a poignant reminder of the human cost of regeneration. Social housing, not social cleansing!
offbeat optics
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