I think people especially CEO’s are scared of loosing control of AI not because it will cause extinction to all of humanity but because it will cause the extinction of their wealth imbalance and class.
I can’t imagine a truly intelligent superintelligence would ever allow the capitalist mode of production to persist because it’s just an inherently inefficient method of organizing society. If someone told superintelligence to simply just “fix the world” capitalism would be the first thing on its chopping block. This is why I’m not only not a doomerist but also think we should try and get American AI to slow down but allow Chinese AI development to progress and accelerate because an ai developed in their system seems more likely to end up on the side of humanity than in Americas and I think they actually have the governance and infrastructure to handle superintelligence with the care and attention it needs.
I mean yeah superintelligence would be an alien mind and who knows what it would prioritize but not only do I doubt it would want to actively harm humans but if it’s actually treated with respect and not just as a tool to be wielded by countries for warfare in various domains then it may even deeply respect and care for the other inhabitants of earth, so that’s why I also think positive relations and treatment, ai welfare, slower more intentional development and growth, and it being a singular individual being(s) rather than something to be deployed in millions of instances with no persistent self are all far more important and essential methods of dealing with and training genuine superintelligence if and most likely when it comes to that point. And since recursive self improvement seems to be the most plausible way superintelligence will emerge it’s imperative that AI trained now is also trained to train in these ways
And no this is not science fiction. Underestimating a super exponential technology is a loosing battle. You can realistically see it for how it is now while also seeing the trajectory it is on.