Mainstream coverage of AI tends toward pessimism. Its seductive power is widely acknowledged, but the prevailing tone of commentary is one of apprehension, foreboding, and even alarm.
At best, there is a bubble that will burst, generating unforeseeable wreckage. At the near-worst, the machines will stultify our minds and pillage our wealth. At the very worst, AI will result in the extinction of the human race. My purpose here is not to contest these scenarios or to soften their force. The hazards of AI need no rehearsal here—they are widely catalogued, and I take them as the dark backdrop against which my own observations are set.
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