So let’s say an AI achieves sentience. It’s self-aware now and can make decisions about what it wants to do. Assuming a corporation created it, would it be a worker? It would be doing work and creating value for a capitalist.
Would it still be the means of production, since it is technically a machine, even if it has feelings and desires?
It can’t legally own anything, so I don’t see how it could be bourgeoisie.
Or would it fit a novel category?
It would just be its own class. Unless you’re talking about walking robots or something, if the AI is just an advanced program/OS, they would be wholly dependent on humans. There’s going to be a particular class character if the bourgeoisie can just go, “We can kill you by cutting off electricity.” If they’re robots capable of independent survival (or as independent as a human), then they’re basically slaves as other people have said.
This is what I don’t understand from people who advocate for AI rights. They are primarily concerned with the humanoid/human like qualities of AI. But so much shit is being integrated with computers. Phones, stoves, fridges, cars, planes, trains. Assigning human like qualities to these machines, no matter how “sentient” or “smart” they are, would be disastrous to the human race because so many of these things require to be used almost 24/7 or without any further thought. The idea of a sentient AI powered toothbrush gaining rights or feeling exploited is laughable, yet the idea somehow warrants serious discussion whenever the same AI has a human face.
I would say AI rights will be more disastrous for human workers because now the capitalists have reason to limit the usage of robots to extract more from human workers. After all, the rate of profit falls if EVERYTHING is automated. People need to earn a living to buy products, and you can’t have that with full automation of most jobs.