[nickparker]

One of the more common stances, though I don't know if it's that of OpenAI, is that the singularity is not what we should be worried about. It's the extremely powerful tool AIs we'd see before the singularity, in the wrong hands.

Consider an ultra-effective AI for finding security vulnerabilities. One nation builds that first, and then with keys to the kingdom they exfiltrate billions in intellectual property from other states, manipulate foreign economies, and shut down electrical grids.

[MertsA]

Or even worse, there are very real and very large incentives to build a real skynet. AI can lead to soldiers who never sleep, never hesitate, are always in communication, and can calculate the amount of drift a bullet will experience in flight in milliseconds. Fighter pilots that never sleep, never experience blood rushing to their heads upside down, and never feel the effects of high g maneuvers.

Military use of AI could very well be the next cold war.

[openthrowawAI]

Indeed. And I'm sure this is the main point in selling the importance of funding AI safety when talking to governments.

Another of the main concerns before the singularity is the possible social breakdown due to massive unemployment and inequality, the main issues being the transition, not the possibility of a post-scarcity society.