Venkatesh Rao: AI Elites Hoard Intelligence Like Mercantilism
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On November 3, 2026, engineer Venkatesh Rao argued in a post on his blog "Contraptions" that many elites treat intelligence as a scarce and dangerous resource to be controlled and hoarded, much like mercantilists treated gold, and exploit safety concerns to gain political influence. He believes AI will not replace human thinking; instead, it will make people think more and grow the demand for ideas. On the policy front, he argues the focus should be on fair access to AI rather than protecting old knowledge-work jobs; regarding autonomous AI agents, he agrees guardrails are needed but believes agents should not merely follow orders. The view currently comes from Rao's personal blog post, with no reported responses from other parties yet.
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- The DecoderAI elites might hoard intelligence like mercantilists hoarded gold
Engineer Venkatesh Rao writes on his blog "Contraptions" that many elites treat intelligence as a scarce, dangerous resource to be controlled and hoarded, like mercantilists treated gold, and exploit safety concerns for political influence. He argues AI will instead lead people to think more and grow demand for ideas, rather than replace humans. Policy should focus on fair access to AI rather than protecting old knowledge-work jobs; autonomous AI agents need guardrails but should not merely follow orders.
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