AI has revived an old socialist hope: maybe central planning can finally work.

Comment “AI Socialism” and we’ll send you the full video. The argument sounds tempting. Modern algorithms can process oceans of data. Firms already use AI to forecast demand, optimize logistics, manage inventories, and coordinate complex production. So why couldn’t a government use the same tools to plan an entire economy? Writers in Jacobin, tech leaders like Jack Ma, and even respected economists have suggested that massive data and artificial intelligence might make socialist planning more plausible than it was in the 20th century. But the old problem runs deeper than computing power. AI can help entrepreneurs discover better ways to serve consumers. It cannot replace the institutional process that reveals what people actually value. A smarter computer does not solve the knowledge problem.