The Left Facing the Challenges of Quantum Super-Artificial Intelligence
By Ignacio Ramonet: We are living through a moment of great confusion, bewilderment, and multiple uncertainties. I'm not just talking about the brutal and repulsive geopolitical moment we are experiencing. No. I'm talking about what is happening to us in our daily lives as activists, academics, intellectuals, and left-wing individuals committed to the desire to build, each at their own level, a better, more egalitarian, more just, and more supportive world.
We are in a period of incredible unpredictability. Of hatred, indignity, and brutality, I repeat. We find it difficult to understand. Our conceptual tools are proving, in part, obsolete. We find it difficult to explain what is happening to us.
With caution, perhaps we could suggest that one of the causes of this current bewilderment is the new major technological disruption we are experiencing and which, once again, is disrupting the dominant communication model—that of social networks—to which we were already becoming accustomed, for better or for worse.
As I have often said: every major disruption in the field of communication inevitably leads to dysfunctions and breakdowns in the order of societies. And it puts a fundamental value in crisis: freedom.
Let's simply consider the decisive changes of all kinds that the invention of writing brought about; or the expansion of printing; or the emergence of the Internet...
My thesis is that we are experiencing one of these great disruptive shifts and that we must be ready to confront it. Because once again, what is at stake is fighting for our values and our freedoms.
I. WHAT IS HAPPENING?
On October 7th of last year, the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists—John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis—for having brought one of the strangest phenomena of the quantum world to a human scale: the tunnel effect.
Quantum tunneling occurs when a particle passes directly through a barrier that, according to classical physics, would be insurmountable. It's like throwing a ball against a wall and seeing it appear intact on the other side, without either the wall or the ball suffering the slightest damage. This phenomenon, which is fundamental to the operation of transistors—those tiny mechanisms that, integrated into microprocessors, make artificial intelligence algorithms possible—usually vanishes in larger systems. That's why we don't see people walking through walls in everyday life.
However, in a series of experiments conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, between 1984 and 1985, Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis demonstrated that the tunneling effect could manifest itself on larger scales. The three researchers designed electronic circuits based on superconductors, materials capable of conducting electric current without resistance.
By employing superconductivity—another of the most surprising properties of modern physics—these three scientists showed how, under certain conditions, nature can once again break the rules of common sense and give rise to emergent properties impossible to explain with a simple logic of linear cause and effect, but which can only be explained when the collective quantum effects of millions of atoms are taken into account.
With these discoveries, physics began to tame the peculiarities of the quantum world (which celebrates its centenary this year) and transform them into technological tools. This laid the foundation for current advances in quantum computing. It is no coincidence that both Devoret and Martinis have worked on Google's quantum computers, whose quantum chips are based on the discoveries of these scientists.
In fact, most of the current developments in commercial quantum processors and computers manufactured by Google, IBM, Microsoft, and other electronics companies are based on superconducting electronic quantum circuits made from what Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis developed.
With their discoveries, the three new Nobel laureates laid the foundations of the so-called second quantum revolution, that is, the transition from understanding quantum laws to exploiting them to create radically new technologies. Quantum computers—still under development and in the experimental phase, but already in existence—are machines capable of solving very complex tasks in a very short time. For example, Professor Martinis's team published a major breakthrough in the journal Nature. Their quantum computer, with only about one hundred qubits, outperformed the world's most powerful conventional supercomputer. It solved a task in 200 seconds, whereas the conventional supercomputer would have needed 10,000 years.
Quantum computing, in particular, enables the execution of advanced machine learning models and large language models, which are essential for developing artificial superintelligence. Thus, the combination of quantum computing and artificial intelligence optimizes learning processes and generates new algorithms.
The union of artificial intelligence and quantum computing is radically transforming information and communication technologies (ICT) by allowing gigantic volumes of data to be analyzed and processed more efficiently in minimal time.
Quantum Artificial Superintelligence – Quantum AI – is defined as an emerging field of technology that combines the superpower of quantum computing with the increasingly spectacular functions of artificial intelligence. Some analysts compare this challenge to the "Manhattan Project," secretly launched in 1942 in the United States during World War II to develop the atomic bomb.
It is worth remembering that last year, two scientists—the American John J. Hopfield and the British Geoffrey E. Hinton—won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for their foundational work on artificial neural networks, which are the basis of machine learning and modern artificial intelligence. Their discoveries and inventions have made it possible to create computer systems capable of memorizing and learning from data to improve and accelerate the development of generative artificial intelligence patterns.
II. IN COMPETITION WITH HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
Generative AI is the great technological and communication revolution of the moment. It is capable of producing texts, images, videos, or audio from a series of user instructions. It is based on deep learning. This is a strategy within the field of AI that has gained relevance in the last decade and consists of applying algorithms to gigantic databases so that they extract patterns (models) with which to make predictions or decisions. As we know, AI learns from data. Data has become the strategic raw material of our time.
Learning processes are built on the basis of artificial neural networks. Just as the human brain is built with 86 billion neurons that make trillions of connections between them, an artificial neural network is built from thousands of network nodes that connect to each other.
AI is in competition with human intelligence. And it has been breaking down barriers. Initially, it was thought that AI could never defeat a human mind in the game of chess, due to the complexity and creativity of the game. But on May 11, 1997, IBM's Deep Blue computer defeated world champion Garry Kasparov.
Then it was said that AI would never defeat human intelligence in the game of Go, due to its exceptional complexity. Until, on March 12, 2016, the AlphaGo program, from Google's DeepMind subsidiary, defeated the world Go champion, South Korean Lee Sedol.
And now it is believed that AI could even win a Nobel Prize in Physics in less than ten years... Because, in principle, there is no problem for a machine to design another machine, for one system to generate another system, and so on until the first human contribution is nothing more than a distant memory...
Quantum AI is greatly reducing the time required for automatic training, the so-called deep learning, to understand and generate human language naturally.
These models are capable of performing tasks such as answering questions, translating, summarizing, writing code, and even generating creative content based on the instructions they receive. The main difference with other models is their large size, which allows them to capture complex nuances of language. Until recently, it took months or weeks to obtain this training. Currently, it only takes minutes to create new AI assistants highly specialized in different complex, technical, or even experimental topics; and for these—now chatbots—to respond instantly.
One of the most anticipated developments is the creation of new algorithms that, supported by quantum computing, will redefine—I repeat—the current Artificial Intelligence models. Just as the introduction of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) led to the rise of modern AI, quantum computing will open the door to revolutionary and previously unimaginable designs. And it will cause a spectacular acceleration of robotics in many fields (communication, finance, medicine, mechanical engineering, military industries, arts, research, weather forecasting).
As new quantum algorithms proliferate, current AI will change radically. They will not only be faster, but they will also leverage the inherent advantages of quantum hardware. And this is happening NOW. We are experiencing a new technological breakthrough similar to what the invention of the Web, the modern Internet, represented in 1989.
III. TECHNOLOGICAL EMPIRES AND STRATEGIC ALLIANCES
In this regard, on September 22, 2025, the high-tech companies NVIDIA and OpenAI announced the signing of a letter of intent to establish a historic strategic alliance to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of new NVIDIA microprocessor systems for OpenAI's next-generation AI infrastructure. This infrastructure is intended to train and operate OpenAI's next generation of models, as a step toward the implementation of artificial superintelligence. It's worth remembering that Nvidia's new Blackwell microprocessors (whose export to China is banned by President Donald Trump) already boast computational performance between one hundred and one thousand times greater than other latest-generation digital processors…
On another note, what does "10 gigawatts of AI systems" mean? A gigawatt (GW) is a unit of power equivalent to 1,000 megawatts, or one billion watts. A single gigawatt can power more than 700,000 homes. The gigawatt is commonly used as a unit of measurement for large-scale power plants or electrical grids. For example, the Three Gorges Dam in China, considered the world's largest hydroelectric power plant, has an installed capacity of 22.5 GW. The Nvidia-OpenAI agreement thus represents almost half of the energy produced by the Three Gorges Dam…
To support this implementation, which includes the data center and energy capacity, NVIDIA plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI as the new NVIDIA systems are deployed. The first phase is planned for the second half of 2026.
Nvidia is the leader in AI chips. It is the world's largest company by market capitalization, reaching (as of October 2025) $4.2 trillion (or 4.2 million million dollars), a figure never before achieved by any other company.
OpenAI is the creator of the popular ChatGPT. This year, the artificial intelligence company OpenAI has secured commitments for approximately $1 billion to ensure the necessary computing power to operate its AI models.
AI is becoming key for tech companies, but it's also forcing them to make massive investments. Over the past summer, the "Big Seven"—Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Oracle, and Tesla—announced increased investment, potentially reaching $400 billion annually.
These deals have triggered spectacular reactions on Wall Street. Oracle's market value, for example, jumped to $244 billion after its deal with OpenAI was announced last month. AMD's stock rose nearly 24%, increasing its market capitalization by $63 billion. Nvidia's stock has surged 3,000% since 2020.
The sheer volume of money invested has fueled rampant financial speculation. And many analysts fear that an "AI bubble" is forming and that its bursting could cause a financial crisis similar to the dot-com bubble of 2000.
In any case, OpenAI and its partners are betting on continued exponential growth in AI usage. The company expects to multiply its current revenue by $12 billion in the coming years by launching new products and doubling the number of paid subscribers on ChatGPT.
Silicon Valley giants are investing billions of dollars in AI-powered equipment. Companies are learning to use this equipment at breakneck speed because they know their future and survival depend on it.
Currently in the US, any company suspected of not quickly adopting AI is attacked on the stock market, as was the case with Accenture—a multinational professional services firm that offers management and technology advice to companies worldwide—with approximately 780,000 employees in some 50 countries. Its stock has lost a third of its value since the beginning of the year.
IV. THE MOTHER OF ALL TECHNOLOGIES
Remember that ChatGPT was launched on November 30, 2022, just three years ago. And today, ChatGPT has reached 800 million weekly active users, positioning itself as one of the most widely used artificial intelligence products in the world. This exponential growth reflects the ever-increasing interest in conversational AI.
Despite this mountain of hundreds of billions of dollars invested in AI technologies in the United States, it's worth remembering that in China, DeepSeek surprised the world in January 2025 with its R1 AI agent and chatbot, achieved with minimal investment from a small company. This was dubbed the "Sputnik moment" of Artificial Intelligence.
Only two countries in the world dominate artificial intelligence technologies: the United States and China. Russia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Union are not participating in this race. And there is an open technological rivalry between Washington and Beijing over who will ultimately dominate AI, the mother of all technologies.
As we mentioned, Donald Trump is prohibiting the export of next-generation semiconductors and chips to China. And Beijing is limiting the export of rare earth elements, essential for semiconductor manufacturing, to the United States.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses many problems for our societies: ecological problems, discrimination, transparency issues, and more. In addition to the enormous risks of disinformation and manipulation through technologies like deepfakes, generative AI can create highly convincing simulated content that can be used to spread fake news, influence elections, and damage reputations.
Other challenges include data privacy, cybersecurity, technological dependence, and ethical dilemmas surrounding autonomy, the "humanization" of machines, and the use of AI in areas such as lethal weapons.
The proliferation of data centers housing AI servers generates waste from electrical and electronic equipment. Furthermore, they rely on critical minerals and rare elements that are often mined unsustainably (such as coltan). And they consume massive amounts of electricity, which emits more greenhouse gases that warm the planet and accelerate climate change. Current AI requires a massive and constantly growing energy infrastructure to operate as large-scale AI models improve. A recent report (The Shift Project) showed that data center electricity needs could triple by 2030, which also implies a 9% annual increase in greenhouse gas emissions…
Furthermore, artificial intelligence (AI) is significantly impacting our lives at a time when we already suffer from excessive dependence on technology. And when we already have a serious problem with the general misuse of these technologies.
V. THE LEFT AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Regarding new technologies, we must admit that many of us on the left have a problem with emerging technologies.
There is an old and widespread tendency to confuse technology with the capitalist system and with the particular matrix of power relations in which it develops.
In this sense, AI is sometimes analyzed as a completely negative phenomenon within the context of capitalist social relations: a set of technologies deployed by the ruling class in its own interest to degrade and replace human labor.
For some on the left, AI simply becomes a substitute for oligarchs, platform capitalism, or the surveillance state—in other words, a pile of evil garbage that must be rejected.
Therefore, regarding Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), it is worth remembering that, throughout the revolutionary struggle, Fidel Castro in Cuba always gave them priority. From the very triumph of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel's ability to stay abreast of the latest advances in information, communication, and telecommunications technologies was evident. Fidel clearly understood the need to make these advances available for Cuba's development.
Thus, in the mid-1960s, the training of personnel in the field of computing within Higher Education gained momentum. The teaching of computer science also constituted a national strategy from the first half of the 1970s. During a visit to the Digital Research Center (CID), affiliated with the University of Havana, in 1972, Fidel Castro stated: “Comrades, I have come here after seeing that computer—referring to the IRIS 50—to ask you to make many computers so that the people, the students, can have access to them, study them, and learn about computing. We are a country without natural resources; but we have a very important resource: the intelligence of the Cuban people, and we must develop it. Computing achieves that, and I am convinced that Cubans have a special intelligence for mastering computing.”
Fidel Castro encouraged the Young Computer and Electronics Club program, which began on September 8, 1987. He commented that "a society that does not prepare itself for the use of computers is doomed."
In 1996, Fidel Castro secured internet access for Cuba despite the embargo. And within the framework of the numerous programs of the Battle of Ideas, he promoted the use of ICTs in Cuba. Internet access increased, and the University of Computer Sciences (UCI) was inaugurated in 2002.
It is also important to consider that Karl Marx argued that technology does not develop under capitalism to improve society or to "ease labor," but rather to produce surplus value or profits for capital. Therefore, Marx said, capital will not use technology unless it can perform tasks more cheaply than the cheapest available labor.
From this perspective, it should be clear that capital today has a strong interest in automating the high cost of technical and professional labor—that is, the forms of work seemingly most vulnerable to the current disruption caused by AI.
VI. A JOB APOCALYPSE
The most feared consequences that AI could have on our societies primarily concern the labor market. And this is setting off alarm bells. Some experts are already talking about a “job apocalypse.” Because many studies warn of the likelihood that AI and “intellectual robots” will replace tens of millions of jobs.
In many cases, AI will tend to replace the intellectual work of human beings. In advanced economies, around 60% of jobs may be affected by AI. All repetitive tasks will inexorably be replaced by AI.
According to some UN studies, 980 million jobs worldwide will be affected in some way by new AI technology within a year. That's 28% of the global workforce.
We are facing gigantic changes, on a scale similar to those that followed the 19th-century Industrial Revolution. This is an industrial revolution that is growing exponentially. "AI is going to literally replace half of all US executives," declared Jim Farley, president of Ford, for example. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, the world's number one customer relationship management (CRM) company, recently stated: "AI is allowing us to gain 30% more productivity in engineering. We're no longer going to hire programmers. That job is now done by AI. We are the last employers to manage only humans." From now on, we will have to manage both humans and AI creatures.
The prospect of widespread automation of "mental," "intellectual," or "cognitive" work could initiate a process of "proletarianization" of the "professional-managerial class," or at least a segment of it.
Even if these workers eventually move to new sectors, the transition will not always be easy and could be politically unstable (as we saw in the deindustrialized Rust Belt regions of the United States, plagued by high unemployment, which voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump).
AI could strike directly at the heart of one of the main sources of capitalist stability for over a century: the relatively stable middle-class workers, corporate and banking executives who enjoy decent wages and a degree of autonomy at work, and who (for the most part) consider their interests to be aligned with those of capital.
Other analysts describe OpenAI and other powerful players in new technologies as empires: during colonialism, empires seized territories and extracted resources, exploited subjugated labor, and projected racist and dehumanizing ideas of their own superiority and modernity to justify exploitation and the imposition of their world order. The metaphor is quite apt. However, they also maintain that, at this crucial moment, it is still possible to "regain control over the future of this technology."
AI could radically transform the relationship between labor and capital, and how we live, work, and think. This struggle could shape the landscape of capitalism for decades to come.
Thinkers, social theorists, and trade unionists will be needed just as much as economists, technological visionaries, or computer experts.
Without a left that seriously considers actively shaping the future of AI, we will be forced to merely react to a dark future created by the tech oligarchs.
VII. SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOW RIGHT-WING
The reality is that, as we've said, with this acceleration of AI, social media will be able to manipulate and spread misinformation more effectively.
On September 4th, Donald Trump met at the White House with some thirty leading oligarchs from the major US tech giants (excluding Elon Musk): the Big Tech companies. They discussed the need to "Americanize" TikTok. And, in fact, TikTok has now shifted to the right. The world's fastest-growing social network, and the most popular among young people, will finally operate in the US as a separate company from its Chinese parent, but with a board of directors controlled by the White House. TikTok is a platform particularly popular among those under 30, and serves as a conduit for ideas and messages to a segment of the population largely untouched by other media. In Spain, for example, Vox has around 750,000 followers on TikTok, more than double the combined following of the PSOE (150,000), Sumar (85,000), and PP (70,000).
TikTok is the latest major social network to take this conservative turn. Facebook and Instagram already did this when, shortly after Trump won the election in November 2014, their owner, Mark Zuckerberg, became a supporter of the MAGA movement. Two years earlier, Elon Musk transformed Twitter into X, a platform whose algorithm gives special visibility to racist, misleading, or far-right candidate-supporting posts from around the world.
Now all the major social media platforms in the United States are controlled by the right. Large digital platforms have ceased to be merely technology companies: they are political actors with a clear bias, an extension of state power. The fact that they are now largely controlled by ultraconservatives means that these sectors have understood that social media and its formidable capacity to redefine global communication and conversation have been, and continue to be, indispensable tools in their conquest of power.
VIII. ISRAEL AND HASBARA
At the beginning of last October, in New York, during a debate about the need to "Americanize" TikTok, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of influencers that social media is the "most important weapon" and that controlling TikTok was "crucial." At that meeting, Netanyahu added: “The most decisive purchase currently underway is that of TikTok… I hope it goes through because it could be pivotal… Weapons change over time, and today the most important ones are social media.”
Netanyahu knows what he’s talking about. Because his propaganda services have massively used social media to defend their pro-Israel stance on the world stage. Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza is a stark example of the strategic mobilization of the information space in support of military operations.
Israel has integrated the information dimension into its strategy to try to convince international public opinion of the legitimacy of its actions.
The information battle, the struggle for meaning, cognitive warfare, and the imposition of a dominant narrative have become fundamental strategic elements in contemporary military operations. The efforts made at the political level to justify Israel’s war crimes and its position regarding Palestine are part of what Israelis call hasbara. Hasbara is situated at the midpoint. A path between public diplomacy and propaganda.
In recent years, hasbara (public relations) has been the responsibility of different administrations in Israel. It was even given its own ministry, tasked with strategic coordination and media relations.
In 2025, the Foreign Ministry requested a budget of $150 million for propaganda; it also convened dozens of NGOs involved in hasbara for a conference with the mission of defining the objectives of the "pro-Israeli information war."
The Ministry of Defense also participates in these discussions. The Israeli army enjoys considerable autonomy in this regard, due to the role played by the Army Spokesperson's Unit. With a 24-hour newsroom and a staff of over a thousand, it handles operational communications and responds to inquiries from domestic and foreign journalists.
The NGO StandWithUs, for example, has been involved in Israeli public diplomacy since 2001. Funded by the state, it is one of the most prominent Zionist organizations. Influential, with more than 18 offices worldwide and an annual budget exceeding $25 million.
Among the Israeli civil society initiatives supporting regime propaganda, the NGO Israeli Spirit was one of the first to emerge after October 7, 2023.
It has approximately 25,000 volunteers to carry out defensive information operations, particularly against Hamas. It was also the first to create databases on Google Drive with narratives for mass dissemination on social media. This organization was quickly structured and found support from the Israeli government.
The Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF) brings together more than 20,000 reserve officers and commanders, as well as veterans of the Israeli army. Through the B&K agency, specializing in strategic communication at the European Union level, it has contacted hundreds of researchers from European think tanks and research institutes to present them with Israeli narratives.
To this end, the Forum has produced weekly reports and provided the identified researchers with informational videos and documentary material.
IX. HOW DOES DISINFORMATION WORK TODAY?
Artificial intelligence algorithms promote what captures the most attention from social media content consumers because it generates more revenue through advertising sales. In this regard, all studies show that far-right messages provoke far more interactions and controversy, both for and against, which leads algorithms to reinforce and promote this right-wing content. It is estimated that 62% of the information circulating on social media is false. Even worse, 70% of those who receive this false information share it without verifying it.
By promoting hatred against women, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community, by appealing to the most visceral passions of the public—violence and insults—the business model of major social media platforms is directly linked to the ability of Donald Trump and the far right worldwide to mobilize their voters.
Discourses that were once marginal are becoming normalized, polarization is amplified, and a sense of distrust toward the press, democracy, politics, institutions, and science is fueled. This creates a media landscape where disinformation and conspiracy theories circulate more freely. It is a trend that transforms social media into ideological battlegrounds and weakens the common space for dialogue that democratic societies need.
The TikTok case shows us that Donald Trump will continue to invoke National Security to interfere with and control citizens' public lives, laying the groundwork for a shift toward authoritarianism and political surveillance of the content of free media, which eliminates any semblance of a free internet.
With this situation, the risk to the still-free media is greater than ever.
This is no exaggeration: for the past few weeks, Google has introduced automated summaries (AI overviews) in its search results. These show an extract of content from multiple sources directly on the results page, without requiring the user to click to read the full article.
According to several studies, these summaries are causing significant drops in click-through rates to the original articles on news websites.
This isn't just happening with digital media: forums, social networks, and sites like Wikipedia are also experiencing the decline. Studies indicate that only 1% of users of AI summaries end up reaching the original source.
Just when we had changed our way of working to adapt to Google, they're changing the rules of the game again.
In mid-October, Google went even further, activating AI Mode in its search engine for Europe. Since the rise of AI, Google searches have fallen for the first time. Wikipedia is in freefall. Now OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, announces it will launch its own AI-powered web browser. Google Chrome's reign is beginning to decline…
In short, readers, finding what they're looking for directly in the AI-generated summary, no longer feel the need to visit the original page. And for media outlets, this poses a double problem: on the one hand, a loss of advertising or subscription revenue, because without traffic generated from search engines, monetization is reduced. On the other hand, there is concern about brand visibility: if users consume content without seeing the original article, the media outlet's recognition weakens.
The degradation of informational (and democratic) quality began the day the media relinquished control of the information superhighway and a process of progressive degeneration of the online ecosystem began. Today, social media is rife with disinformation, manipulation, fake news, post-truth, alternative truths, conspiracy theories, and hate speech.
X. PRODUCING THEORY
Every day it becomes more difficult to stay informed. Confusion, distrust, and lies reign. This, along with the irresistible rise of Artificial Intelligence, presents a new and crucial challenge for the left. While they are undoubtedly on the right side of history, they continue to struggle to impose their narrative.
Hence the imperative need to rethink communication, to refine narratives, to relaunch the battle of ideas, to win the cognitive war. And, more urgently than ever, to start—on these issues—producing theory, producing theory, and producing theory.
Documents consulted:
“Job Losses Due to AI Are a Serious Threat,” by H. Buck and M. Huber, Jacobin, New York, July 2025.
The AI Empire. Sam Altman and His Race to Dominate the World, by Karen Hao, Península Editions, Barcelona, 2025.
Interview with Karen Hao: “The Artificial Intelligence Industry Is a Colonialist Empire,” Wired, June 21, 2025.
“Israel vs. Hamas: An Investigation into the Strategies of an Endless Information War,” by Amélie Ferey, Le Grand Continent, Paris, October 8, 2025.
Author: Ignacio Ramonet
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