The detractors are wrong. Artificial intelligence is not a scam. It is, in fact, quite useful in a specific number of areas. I’m a computer engineer and I’ve used it both in my day job and in researching for my writing.

The defeatists are wrong. AI will not eliminate the need for human workers. Much of the work we do will change, but AI can’t do everything. There are many things it’s terrible at.

The alarmists are also wrong. This technology does not presage the extinction of the human race. We are nowhere near Skynet. The much-publicized “Hugging Face” hack happened because researchers ordered the models to make the attempt, and then failed to keep an eye on them.

A few pundits such as Ed Zitron and (Carl?) from the Internet of Bugs have correctly surmised that the worst alarmists are either ignorant of the technology or have ulterior motives. If the major AI companies have over-committed themselves and are in danger of going bankrupt, maybe a fake “emergency” can save them. They’re totally correct about this.

I also agree with their call for AI companies to face liability for their products like everyone else. These corporations should not be allowed to shrug it off when their products cause harm, such as the lonely teenager who allegedly decided to end himself at the urging of a chatbot playing a “Game of Thrones” character.

But these smart guys are wrong, too, when they say it will be “easy” to prevent AI abuses. It won’t be. You can’t just pass a law saying that AI’s can’t discuss people’s emotions. It won’t be simple to prevent people from using it to plan crimes, either, because the same information that can prevent accidental poisoning, for example, could be used to do it intentionally.

As for telling AI not to help kids “cheat on their homework,” that’s simply impossible. Such a restriction would render it completely useless to adults doing research or writing factual articles. Schools and parents will need to find novel ways of ensuring students do their own work.

AI does have the potential for serious harm, but not in an “end of the world” fashion. More like the “death of a thousand cuts.” Like nuclear weaponry, AI is a genie that can’t be put back in its bottle. Legislation will never keep up. The best we can do is release the ambulance chasers and hope they can sort it out without killing the industry. No matter what comes of the AI revolution, the next few years are going to be interesting times.