Peter Van Valkenburgh
I think there are three different AI catastrophe stories: 1. AI makes powerful states more dangerous. 2. AI gives ordinary people powers once reserved for states. 3. AI becomes a powerful actor with drives of its own. I worry a lot about 1. I haven't seen much evidence for 2 or 3. Yet AI doom discourse seems weirdly blithe about 1 and obsessed with 2. Sometimes I wonder if there's a bit of class politics hiding in there: enduring faith in the people who already wield extraordinary power, and deep fear of what happens when ordinary people get more of it.