IN THE 21st century, we live through an unprecedented technological upheaval. The rise of artificial intelligence in the Fourth Industrial Revolution is not merely a technical shift. It is a structural force reshaping our social, political and economic worlds. Automation unlocks vast possibilities. Yet, it simultaneously inaugurates a new regime of digital servitude. The rapid advances in AI, robotics, biotechnology and nanotechnology gesture towards a seductive vision of digital utopia while, at the same time, destabilising the very foundations of our humanity. This transformation is not simply technical. It is profoundly existential.
To grasp this duality, Gerd Leonhard coined the term ‘HellVen’, a blend of hell and heaven. AI contains within it both promises and peril and which future prevails depends on how we govern it. On one side lies the promise of eradicating disease through gene editing, AI-supported diagnosis and medical treatment, advancing autonomous vehicles, enabling digital currencies and blockchain and freeing humanity from repetitive labour. On the other looms the spectre of a surveillance society, mass unemployment and the erosion of human judgement and agency. As algorithms begin to decide on our behalf, we risk slipping into a condition of digital subjection, if not outright digital servitude.
AI is also transforming the economy. Karl Marx argued that advancement in science and technology inevitably reshapes economic relations through the development of productive forces. In his theory of the rising organic composition of capital, he anticipated that under intensifying profit-driven competition, machinery would progressively displace human labour. Though AI did not exist in his time, its trajectory echoes his prediction. If machines and AI systems take over most work, human income collapses. Without income, there is no purchase and consumption. And, without consumers, capitalism falters. AI-driven automation may, thus, represent the culmination of this logic. Since only human labour generates surplus value, the shrinking role of labour in production implies a falling rate of profit. At its extreme, AI may render traditional profit-based capitalism untenable, potentially pushing us towards a post-capitalist order.
Dirk Helbing warns that as profits decline, corporate power may increasingly shift from production to behavioural control, using data and algorithms to steer human conduct, edging society towards a form of algorithmic authoritarianism. A small cluster of tech giants — Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple — already concentrates vast reserves of global data and the infrastructures of digital life. Leonhard describes this emerging order as digital feudalism. Individuals are no longer merely users but dependents locked into platform ecosystems. We subscribe, click, like and search, and every interaction is extracted as raw material for profit. Through opaque algorithmic systems, these corporations do not simply respond to preferences. They actively shape them, influencing choices, conditioning behaviour and subtly structuring belief.
The most urgent question, then, is this: who rules, humans or technology? Increasingly, the balance is shifting towards technological dominance. Algorithmic systems now shape what we eat, whom we befriend and, even, how we vote. A new regime of dependency is taking hold: without technology, we feel impaired, exposed and, even, powerless. This dependence may deepen further. Once humans begin integrating chips or brain-machine interfaces to enhance cognitive and physical capacities, they may lose human autonomy altogether in ways that may no longer be fully reversible.
To address the economic disruptions driven by AI, proposals such as Universal Basic Income is gaining as an important option. As automation displaces human labour, traditional pathways to income may collapse. Some economists, therefore, propose financing a guaranteed basic income through measures such as a robot tax, ensuring social survival in an age of systemic job loss. The critical question remains: will this transition unfold as evolution or revolution? If wealth remains concentrated in the hands of a few corporations, social upheaval may become inevitable. Alternatively, a new social contract between state and citizen could stabilise the transition and redistribute the dividends of automation more equitably.
Technology is not only transforming the economy. It is also reshaping human relationships and emotional life. The depth of human connection is eroding. Philosopher Martin Heidegger argued that while technology expands communication, it diminishes genuine human nearness. In this age of hyper-connectivity, we often feel a profound emptiness: are we truly close to one another? We are flooded with information but starved of meaning. These interactions rarely touch our deepest being. For Heidegger, nearness is not a matter of physical distance but of experiencing the essence of something in its fullness. In Martin Heidegger’s words, ‘All distances in time and space are shrinking. Man now reaches everywhere, maintaining and adopting everything in no time. Yet the frantic abolition of all distances brings no nearness; for nearness does not consist in shortness of distance.’ Yet, we are becoming inhabitants of virtual worlds, the metaverse, where digital capitalism thrives and digital alienation deepens. We should not allow ourselves to be consumed by technology. In Leonhard’s words, ‘Technology is what we have; humanity is who we are.’
To reclaim ourselves, we must awaken from this digital trance. The goal is not to reject technology, but to subordinate it to human ethics and values. AI-driven decisions must remain subject to human oversight and approval. A human-in-the-loop approach is essential: human verification must be mandatory in important decisions. We must ensure that technology does not become the master of our lives. When we hand over our free will or independent judgement to machines, they effectively become our masters. In Leonhard’s words, ‘Software is eating the world, and algorithms are eating our soul.’ At the same time, science and technology must be freed from exclusive capture by corporate profit and capital.
For labour-intensive economies like Bangladesh, automation is a double-edged sword. The readymade garment sector and remittance flows rely heavily on low-cost labour. If advanced economies adopt robotic manufacturing and automated construction at scale, millions of Bangladeshi workers could face displacement, triggering significant economic instability. It is, therefore, imperative to engage with AI consciously and strategically, ensuring that the country is not left behind in this technological transition.
Dr Akhter Sobhan Masroor, is a writer and researcher.
