[southerntofu]

> What if through pursuing AI research there is never any threatening superintelligence but instead we get a second industrial revolution that lifts the globe entirely out of poverty, or allows for the easy colonization of other planets.

There is exactly zero possibility for that. Our problems with the more are not due to lack of comprehension but lack of incentives to do the right thing. Having ML algorithms enforcing the biases they've been taught by Silicon Valley sociopaths is not going to have a positive impact for society, especially if you take into consideration the ecological impact that a "smart society" has in terms of sensors, computing capabilities...

We need a Butlerian Jihad because some of us are slaves to the machines (for the most drastic examples take Amazon workers, but that's just the tip of the iceberg) because the machines are controled by our evil human overlords. AI is not going to annihilate all humans, but it may very well help the masters of this world to eradicate all humanity we have left.