Capitalism has no clothes.

In the age of hyper-automation, it's all up for grabs with AI. We hear about the terrifying potential of artificial intelligence—how it might destroy jobs, society, even humanity. But is AI really posing this threat? Or is raw capitalism hiding behind AI? This narrative, I feel, is overlooked.

During the outbreak of war, we talk about the nations and their leaders' decisions. Similarly, we shouldn't focus solely on robots but on the businesses and their executives pushing this technology.

This brings us to the morality of business. Capitalism, as it stands, has no clothes.

For a long time, people have been the essential ingredient in the business system. Fairy tales, from the self-made man to the working-class hero, romanticized a human's outsized importance in the economic system.

Now, there's an opportunity to reduce or remove the human. AI is paving the path to eliminating this "person ingredient." Fuck your fairy tale. This brings us back to the morality of business—there is none, just profit.

AI presents one of the most significant modern opportunities to reshape business. It's been convenient to ignore the ethical implications of capitalism during incremental technological advancements, but AI makes them impossible to ignore due to the massive scale and impact of the changes it brings. AI forces us to confront the true nature of our economic system.

Capitalism, with all its flaws, is standing naked before us, and it's time we took a closer look.

Steve Berry
Principal, Thought Merchants