AI Replaces Jobs and Troops: The Danger of ‘Power Without Citizens’ | Culture News

AI automation reduces employment and labor income
Eroding economic independence deepens dependence on technology owners
Concentrated wealth raises concerns over widening disparities in political influence

Warnings have emerged that the spread of autonomous weapons and artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance networks could concentrate power and lead to “digital authoritarianism.” The concern is that democratic checks on power will weaken if political leaders or large technology companies monopolize the means to monitor citizens and suppress resistance. These concerns are gaining a concrete basis as technology increasingly replaces the labor and military manpower once supplied by people. Companies continue to cut jobs while emphasizing AI adoption, and unmanned equipment has begun taking over soldiers’ duties on the battlefield. As states and companies become less dependent on citizens’ labor and military service, they are also likely to face less pressure to accommodate citizens’ demands.

Daniel Suarez: “AI-Driven Concentration of Power Threatens Citizens’ Control”

According to Nikkei Asia on the 26th, American science fiction author Daniel Suarez warned that the spread of autonomous weapons and AI surveillance networks risks bringing about digital authoritarianism. His focus was on a situation in which those in power monopolize the means of surveillance and killing, escaping citizens’ control. The concern is that the checks underpinning democracy will weaken if those in power can constantly track citizens’ movements and secure the means to suppress resistance by force. As an extreme manifestation, Suarez described a future in which rulers declare that they no longer need elections or democracy.

The actors whose concentration of power he warns against include both political leaders and large technology companies. His concern is a structure in which a small group controlling AI surveillance infrastructure and autonomous weapons exercises enormous coercive power without being accountable to the public. Surveillance networks risk being abused to identify opponents of those in power, while lethal robots could be used to suppress resistance. His warning is that combining the two technologies would make it harder for citizens to challenge abuses of power or hold those responsible to account.

Suarez emphasized the rule of law and human involvement as principles for preventing this outcome. He explained that what matters is who is given the authority to make decisions about surveillance and the use of force, and what rules constrain that authority. In particular, he proposed the “human-in-the-loop” principle, under which people remain involved in autonomous weapons’ decision-making processes. Warning against the trend of handing authority to AI while becoming consumed by technological competition, he called for both legal controls on those operating the technology and the exercise of human judgment.

AI Replacement Pressure Hits Both Youth Hiring and Existing Workers

The future Suarez warned of is not an impossible scenario. If AI replaces human intellectual labor, companies that own the technology could become less dependent on staff, while workers could struggle to retain their jobs and incomes. This would upset the balance of power between those who own technology and those who provide labor. In an interview with Semafor in August, Microsoft (MS) co-founder Bill Gates predicted that AI would replace tasks across multiple industries simultaneously, substantially reducing the number of jobs available. If even the occupations people could move into are automated, as he fears, workers will have fewer employment options.

In the labor market, the first signs appeared in shrinking employment opportunities for young people entering the workforce. An analysis of payroll provider ADP’s data by Stanford University’s Digital Economy Lab found that, as of June this year, employment among 22- to 25-year-olds in occupations highly exposed to AI was about 19% below the level expected had it followed the same trend as occupations with low exposure. The researchers attributed the widening gap to companies reducing their hiring of young workers. Employment declines were concentrated in occupations where AI is used to automate human tasks, with particularly strong effects on young workers who rely on standardized knowledge learned from textbooks or documents.

As entry barriers rise for young job seekers, companies are also moving to reduce their existing workforces while emphasizing AI adoption. Amazon, after cutting about 30,000 jobs from late last year through January this year, reportedly eliminated fewer than 1,000 additional positions on the 7th of this month, mainly in its Stores division, which handles e-commerce, and other units. Meta is pursuing a restructuring involving about 8,000 job cuts this year and has also eliminated 6,000 positions it had planned to fill. It proposed reassigning 7,000 employees to AI-related organizations and reducing management positions. Microsoft likewise announced in July that it would cut 4,800 jobs, about 2.1% of its total workforce, primarily in its commercial business and Xbox division, among others. Oracle’s total headcount also fell by about 21,000 in fiscal 2026, which ended in late May this year, and it began further layoffs in September. Netflix announced a restructuring on the 14th of this month that would cut 1,000 jobs, about 6% of its workforce, including positions in product, technology, legal and human resources.

Table 1. Layoffs and Organizational Restructuring at Major Technology Companies

Ground Robots Take Soldiers’ Place, From Supply Runs to Combat

The trend of physical AI replacing tasks once performed by people is also emerging in militaries that deploy troops. Ukraine’s military is using ground robots to transport supplies and evacuate wounded soldiers, carrying out more than 9,000 such missions in March this year alone. At the time, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry was pursuing contracts to purchase 25,000 unmanned ground vehicles in the first half of the year, with the goal of handling all frontline logistics using robots. The plan is intended to reduce the number of times soldiers must enter areas where they are exposed to enemy attacks. Ground robots for combat, reconnaissance, supply and evacuation appeared alongside aerial drones and unmanned surface vessels at the Independence Day military parade held in Kyiv on August 24. Dozens of ground robots paraded through the city center while unmanned vessels maneuvered on the Dnipro River, showcasing equipment that has taken over tasks previously performed by soldiers.

Ground robots are also being deployed on combat missions to repel enemy attacks and destroy military facilities. The “NC13” unit of Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps, which Reuters reported on in September, conducted combined operations in which unmanned ground vehicles equipped with machine guns suppressed Russian attacks while aerial kamikaze drones struck the enemy. Soldiers remotely operate the machine guns from a command post while watching battlefield footage transmitted by the robots. In another case, a ground robot towed a trailer carrying 3 bombs to blow up a bridge used for Russian military supplies. The unit’s deputy commander said it conducts operations using robots almost daily, and that at least 2 Russian soldiers had surrendered to ground robots. The 3rd Army Corps has set a goal of replacing about one-third of its frontline troops with unmanned ground vehicles by the end of the year.

Generative AI Also Used to Build Tactical Map Analysis Software

While Ukraine deploys robots on the battlefield, a case has also emerged in the United States of generative AI being used to develop software for military work. In a case disclosed in June by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory, U.S. Air Force cadet Joshua Lynch, who had no coding experience, developed a military software prototype with AI’s help. Someone who envisioned functions needed in military operations attempted to implement them directly without undergoing specialized programming training. Guided by laboratory researcher Laura Niss, Lynch described the functions he needed to ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini in everyday language, asking them to write and revise the code. Developed over about 3 months using so-called “vibe coding,” “ROMAD-AI” included functions for analyzing tactical maps and generating mission-planning documents.

During development, Lynch focused on communicating detailed requirements to AI and checking the results. When AI lost track of task priorities or modified unrelated code, he broke the problems down into smaller questions. When conversations strayed from the development goals, he steered them back on course to reduce errors. Much of the project was also spent identifying AI’s limitations and learning how to obtain the desired results. Niss emphasized the significance of a service member with no coding knowledge turning operational needs into a working program. Her assessment was that it is a useful tool for people familiar with military work to communicate specific functions and solutions to technology specialists.

Work, Taxation, National Defense and Education on Shaky Ground

As AI takes on even development work requiring specialized knowledge, uncertainty is growing around the path by which people receive an education, find jobs and earn a living. If demand for workers in a given occupation falls before they can recoup the time and money spent on education, the route to a higher standard of living through educational credentials and skills narrows. Even if automation increases productivity, there is no guarantee that the gains will translate into higher worker incomes. In research analyzing AI’s economic effects, MIT professor Daron Acemoglu predicted that the gap between capital income and labor income would widen. As companies reduce staffing to lower production costs, some of the wages previously paid to workers shift into returns for capital owners.

Declining labor income also risks weakening the fiscal capacity of governments that must support the unemployed. As more people lose jobs or see their wages fall, revenues from labor income taxes and social insurance contributions are also disrupted. International Monetary Fund (IMF) researchers have warned that, as labor-replacing automation spreads, the tax base could weaken just as spending needs for unemployment support and retraining increase. Their analysis suggests that, particularly in tax systems where effective rates on capital income are lower than those on labor income, shifting income to capital owners makes it difficult to fully offset lost tax revenue. If fiscal pressures prevent adequate retraining and livelihood support, unemployed people must shoulder both the cost of learning new skills and living expenses during their job search. This raises concerns about a vicious cycle in which an inability to afford education delays reemployment, and longer periods without income make returning to the labor market increasingly difficult.

If the erosion of economic independence is compounded by the replacement of troops with unmanned systems, citizens’ influence over states and companies could also shrink. As long as workers participated in production and citizens performed military service, securing their cooperation was a major concern for business operations and national security. But as production facilities and military operations become increasingly unmanned, work stoppages and refusals to mobilize are also likely to lose their effectiveness as means of pressuring those in power. The worst-case scenario outlined by historian Yuval Harari likewise envisions a situation in which the majority displaced by AI lose both their economic roles and political influence. His concern is a future in which people excluded from employment become dependent on a small minority that owns wealth and technology, while those in power use constant surveillance to suppress resistance.