Political economist Nick Srnicek breaks down how AI is reshaping capitalism, work, and global power — and why the real story isn’t “robots taking all our jobs”, but who owns the systems and how states choose to deploy them.

Nick Srnicek is a Canadian writer and academic, and a lecturer in Digital Economy at King’s College London. He’s best known for his books Platform Capitalism, Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work (with Alex Williams), and After Work: The Fight for Free Time (with Helen Hester). He’s also closely associated with debates around accelerationism, post-work politics and the digital economy.

In this episode you get an insider’s view of how AI, platforms and states interact — from Washington and Beijing’s different strategies to Europe’s struggle for “digital sovereignty”, and what all of this really means for ordinary workers over the next decade.

He explains, among other things:
◼️ Why today’s AI boom sits on top of decades of digital capitalism — and how platforms like Google, Amazon and Nvidia turn data, chips and models into monopoly power
◼️ The crucial difference between the US and China’s AI strategies: chasing “the best model” vs. deeply integrating AI into industry, logistics and state capacity
◼️ How beliefs about fast vs slow AGI “takeoff” are quietly shaping export controls, chip policy and national security decisions in Washington
◼️ Why Europe risks becoming a mere “rule-taker” between US and Chinese AI stacks — and what it would take to become a genuine third pole
◼️ What a realistic future of work under AI might look like: not total job loss, but more surveillance, precarity, and intensified exploitation unless politics changes

Explore Nick Srnicek’s work
◼️ Platform Capitalism – how digital platforms extract rent and dominate markets
◼️ Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work (with Alex Williams) – a manifesto for a post-work, high-tech left
◼️ After Work: The Fight for Free Time (with Helen Hester) – why real freedom means transforming work and care, not just adding gadgets

(Search “Nick Srnicek Platform Capitalism” or “Nick Srnicek After Work” on your favourite bookstore or platform.)

https://x.com/nsrnicek

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