Merchant: How AI doomsday hype helps sell ChatGPT - Los Angeles Times

You've probably heard by now: AI is coming, it's about to change everything, and humanity is not ready. Artificial intelligence is passing bar exams, plagiarizing term papers, creating deepfakes that are real enough to fool the masses, and the robot apocalypse is nigh. Tesla founder Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and hundreds of AI researchers signed an open letter this week urging a pause on AI development before it gets too powerful. "A.I. could rapidly eat the whole of human culture," three tech ethicists wrote in a New York Times op-ed. A cottage industry of AI hustlers have taken to Twitter, Substack and YouTube to demonstrate the formidable potential and power of AI, racking up millions of views and shares.