Recently, I had the absolute privilege (🙄) of engaging with a Facebook rando who declared—loudly and proudly—that he would not support my book project because I dared to use AI to generate the cover art. Not because of the content of the book. Not because of any deep philosophical disagreement. Just because an algorithm assisted in creating the image on the front—created with AI, from my original sketches.
Now, I’ve seen performative outrage before, but this was a new level of selective moral grandstanding. This guy wasn’t railing against the corporate publishing industry that exploits writers. He wasn’t concerned about the massive media conglomerates that use AI for profit-driven content creation while underpaying artists. No, his line in the sand was my indie book cover—created with AI as a way to level the playing field in the world of publishing as a grassroots project.
Meanwhile, billionaires are using AI to manipulate elections, automate job losses, and greenwash their environmental destruction, but sure—me using AI to make a cover is the real crisis. The hypocrisy is almost impressive.
If working-class creators can use AI to level the playing field, stretch their resources, and get their voices heard in an industry dominated by wealthy gatekeepers, then why shouldn’t we? Why should billionaires get a monopoly on technology while we’re expected to struggle with outdated tools just to prove some kind of ideological purity?
At the end of the day, if someone’s biggest concern in this world is where the cover art on my book came from, then they were never going to support the project in the first place. I’ll save my energy for real conversations—the ones that actually matter.
A Smart Fight, Not a Surrender
In a world where billionaires and massive corporations use every available tool—legal, financial, and technological—to maintain their dominance, it’s time for working-class people and grassroots movements to do the same. AI is not the enemy of the people; unchecked corporate power is. And if the tools of the powerful can be repurposed to serve the working class, then using them isn’t just strategic—it’s necessary.
For too long, those with the deepest pockets have controlled information, communication, and outreach. Political campaigns, advocacy groups, and small businesses struggle to keep up as corporate giants pour millions into AI-driven marketing, automated fundraising, and data analytics. The result? A widening gap between the powerful and the people, with grassroots efforts fighting an uphill battle to be seen and heard.
But the game is changing. AI is no longer just a billionaire’s toy—it’s a tool that can be wielded by activists, labor organizers, independent artists, and small businesses to amplify their message and level the playing field.
Let’s be clear: AI isn’t inherently good or bad. Like any tool, its impact depends on who wields it and for what purpose. When billionaires use AI to automate jobs and boost profits, it’s exploitative. When grassroots organizers use it to streamline outreach, create impactful messaging, and stretch their limited resources, it’s empowering.
Small campaigns that once struggled to afford professional designers can now use AI-generated visuals to create compelling content. Independent journalists who lack a full editorial team can use AI to assist with research and editing. Labor organizers can analyze worker data more efficiently to fight for better conditions. The difference between exploitation and empowerment isn’t the technology—it’s who is using it and why.
Competing with Corporate Goliaths
The same billionaires who decry AI when working people use it are the ones investing billions into it for their own gain. They don’t object to the technology—they object to losing their monopoly on it. They want working-class people stuck using outdated, inefficient methods while they automate their way to higher profits.
Corporations use AI to manipulate public perception, flood media channels with disinformation, and drown out independent voices. If grassroots movements refuse to use the same technological advancements, they are willingly fighting with one hand tied behind their back. Why should we accept that disadvantage?
AI-powered tools can help grassroots campaigns optimize their reach, ensuring messages cut through the corporate noise. They can help small businesses compete against mega-corporations that already use AI-driven marketing and pricing strategies. They can assist educators and independent researchers in making knowledge more accessible to people who have been historically excluded.
Addressing Environmental Concerns: AI vs. Corporate Waste
One of the most common criticisms of AI is its environmental impact. AI models require significant computing power, which consumes electricity and contributes to carbon emissions. That is a valid concern—one that should be addressed. But here’s the inconvenient truth: The carbon footprint of grassroots activists using AI for outreach pales in comparison to the environmental destruction caused by the industries AI can help challenge.
Let’s talk about the real environmental villains—fossil fuel companies, industrial agriculture giants, chemical manufacturers, and corporate polluters who poison water supplies, clear-cut forests, and pump billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. These industries also use AI—to maximize profits, streamline extraction, and greenwash their environmental destruction.
If AI can be used to amplify the voices of environmental activists, track pollution, analyze climate data, and fight for policies that hold corporate polluters accountable, then refusing to use it would be self-defeating. Climate justice movements already leverage AI-powered models to predict climate patterns, track deforestation, and optimize renewable energy solutions. Why should we give up a tool that can help fight environmental destruction just because corporations also use it?
Rather than rejecting AI outright, we should be advocating for cleaner energy sources to power data centers, stronger regulations on corporate AI use, and more equitable access to AI-driven solutions for climate activism. The problem isn’t AI—it’s who controls it and how it’s used.
The Moral High Ground Belongs to the People
Some argue that using AI is unethical, that it’s a tool of the elite. But that argument ignores reality: The true moral failure isn’t working people using AI—it’s billionaires hoarding wealth and technology while telling the rest of us to fight fair. If technology exists that can help level the playing field, then it is moral to use it to fight for equity, justice, and opportunity.
Rejecting AI entirely does nothing to stop billionaires from exploiting it—it only ensures that working-class people remain at a disadvantage. The solution isn’t to abandon technological tools but to democratize them, ensuring they serve the many rather than just the privileged few.
The Future is in Our Hands
The fight for economic and social justice has always been about adapting, outsmarting, and refusing to be silenced. AI is simply another tool in that fight. The billionaires have had their head start, but they don’t own innovation, and they don’t own the future.
So, let’s use every tool at our disposal to organize, educate, and push back against the forces that want to keep power in the hands of the elite. AI isn’t the enemy. Corporate greed is. And it’s time we stop letting them tell us which weapons we’re allowed to use in the battle for a fairer world.
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