Marx and artificial intelligence
notes on labor in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26512/rfmc.v13i2.57664Keywords:
Karl Marx. Fourth Industrial Revolution. Artificial intelligence. Precarization of labor.Abstract
The expansion of artificial intelligence and automation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution redefines the labor market, intensifying precarity and inequality. Inspired by Marxist critique, the article analyzes how new forms of labor based on digital platforms, agile methodologies, and gamification reproduce control mechanisms, alienating workers and fragmenting rights. Despite the optimistic discourse of Klaus Schwab (creator of the term Fourth Industrial Revolution), who views technology as an emancipatory force, reality reveals structural unemployment, income polarization, and degrading working conditions. The text further exposes a paradox: by replacing humans with machines, capitalism undermines its own consumer market, generating a systemic crisis. It concludes that, without radical transformations in the mode of production, technology will continue to serve the concentration of power, remaining distant from a collective project of emancipation.
Downloads
References
AMORIM, Henrique; GUILHERME, Guilherme. Entre scripts e metodologias ágeis: a prescrição como tendência no trabalho mediado pelas TICs. In: ANTUNES, R. (org.). Icebergs à deriva: o trabalho nas plataformas digitais. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2023.
ARÃO, Cristian. Autonomia artificial: o caráter fetichista da tecnologia e seu segredo. Philósophos – Revista de Filosofia, Goiânia, v. 29, n. 1, 2024. DOI: 10.5216/phi.v29i1.78529. Disponível em: https://revistas.ufg.br/philosophos/article/view/78529. Acesso em: 13 mar. 2025.
ARISTÓTELES. Política. Trad. Antônio Campelo Amaral; Carlos Carvalho Gomes. Pontinha: Vega, 1998.
ESTOU me guardando para quando o carnaval chegar (Filme). Direção: Marcelo Gomes. Recife: Carnaval Filmes, 2019. 1 vídeo (85 min), son., color. Disponível em: Netflix. Acesso em: 5 out. 2025.
GRAY, Mary L.; SURI, Siddharth. Ghost work: how to stop Silicon Valley from building a new global underclass. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.
MARX, Karl. Capítulo VI (inédito): manuscritos de 1863–1867, O capital, livro I. Trad. Ronaldo Vielmi Fortes. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2022.
MARX, Karl. O capital: crítica da economia política; livro primeiro – o processo de produção do capital. Trad. Rubens Enderle. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2017.
SCHWAB, Klaus. A quarta revolução industrial. Trad. Daniel Moreira Miranda. São Paulo: Edipro, 2016.
SCOLARI, Fabio. Capitalismo digital e de plataforma: retorno a um putting out system metropolitano. In: ANTUNES, R. (org.). Icebergs à deriva: o trabalho nas plataformas digitais. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2023.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings.
