The AI Safety Debate Is a Distraction From AI's Real Harms
Mike Smith
Spicy Level
The Take
While the industry debates hypothetical AI extinction risk, real AI harms are happening now: job displacement without retraining, algorithmic discrimination, deepfake fraud, and surveillance. The existential risk conversation crowds out the actual risk conversation.
+Why I'm Right
Zero people have been harmed by AGI. Millions have been harmed by current AI
AI safety funding goes to theoretical research, not displaced worker programs
The existential risk narrative serves Big Tech by making regulation seem premature
Practical AI harms have known solutions that aren't being implemented
?The Counter-Argument
“Existential risk, even if low probability, has infinite downside. Ignoring it because current harms are more visible is like ignoring asteroid defense because car crashes kill more people. Both matter.”
Agree? Disagree? Tell me.
@MikeSmithShow on X. I respond to good arguments.
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