Silicon Valley sees AI as the solution – for everyone else

Silicon Valley tech leaders promote an ideology called "solutionism," which frames complex social problems as solvable through AI algorithms, predicting the technology will eliminate cancer, end climate change, and make work optional. However, economist Branko Milanović suggests that unrestricted AI deployment would likely exacerbate class divisions rather than solve societal problems, creating a starkly unequal world rather than the utopia tech moguls envision. The disconnect stems from Silicon Valley leaders' narrow technical backgrounds and the "reality distortion field" of extreme wealth that insulates them from understanding real-world complexity.