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Welcome to The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin magazine.

My name is Daniel Denver, and I'm broadcasting from Providence, Rhode Island.

Today, I ask my guest Nick Sernick to explain how AI came to occupy the epicenter of

everything about our inshittified moment. Our tech oligarch-dominated economy. Our fascist authoritarian MAGA government.

The most fundamental aspects of both our nomic individual consciousnesses and shredded social fabric.

But this interview is above all else about how AI is also, critically, the fulcrum of contests and conflicts, shaping the new world order

with control over semiconductor and AI supply chains and technology, a key site in the struggle

for economic and military dominance. There is so much to discuss. Nick, among many other things, is the author of the new book, Silicon

Empires, The Fight for the Future of AI. Before we get this podcast started, first, much love and

solidarity to everyone in the streets in Minneapolis. I've got an interview coming soon on the deep,

long-running work that's made Minnesota

one of the best organized places in this country. And then, last thing, a tiny fraction of

...