Fear of an AI Apocalypse Is Distracting Us From the Real Task at Hand

With the excitement of every technological advancement comes a wave of fear and uncertainty. We've seen this scenario play out repeatedly since the Industrial Revolution as people wrestled with the impact of new technology on their lives and work. Today we see that fear bubble up in the wake of every AI breakthrough. Despite huge progress in recent years, AI is still in its early days and with that comes a level of uncertainty. This uncertainty is only compounded when glitches arise or expectations outweigh reality, which leads to misunderstanding and anxiety. All of this shows that, to some degree, we find ourselves caught up in a dangerous and unnecessary hype cycle.